The woman in front of Jack was sobbing hysterically into the embroidered handkerchief he had just handed her, and all he could think about was how delicious her husband was going to taste.

It had been a slow month.

He reached out a pale hand and patted her consolingly on the arm. "We are so very sorry for your loss, Mrs. Kim. We will do everything we can to make this difficult time go as smoothly as possible for you."

She glanced up at him through her tears, and he gave her his best sympathetic smile. Mrs. Kim dabbed her eyes and grasped his hand in hers. "Thank you. I really mean that. This is all just so... sudden. Hyun was everything to me." At that, she dissolved into a new orchestra of sobs.

Jack scooted to the edge of his chair and leaned in closer to her. "Of course. It's never easy losing a loved one, and even harder when it is unexpected. How did your husband pass?"

A shudder ran through her, and she blew her nose loudly before dabbing at her eyes again.

Jack kept his face neutral, though he felt a sudden revulsion at the fact that she hadn't asked for a new handkerchief.

"He was running an errand for me. I asked him to pick up some meat for dinner on his way home from work and he had forgotten, so he ran right back out to the store for me; that was the kind of man he was. Some old woman had a heart attack and ran him down right in front of the store." More sobs.

The rest of the meeting went about the same as they always did. She cried a lot, they discussed the details of the service and whether the deceased was to be cremated or buried, and would she like an open casket, and what were his final wishes... and then she cried some more.

When it was all over, Jack helped her to her feet and held her hands in a firm, yet consoling embrace. "We will do everything in our power to ensure your husband receives the service he deserves."

Mrs. Kim dabbed at her eyes again and nodded. "Thank you, I can't tell you what this means to me. And, what it would have meant to him."

Jack walked her to the door and watched her exit.

FINALLY.

He wasn't normally this impatient. In fact, he truly enjoyed his job, most of the time. Having been alive for nearly one hundred and fifty years--and the fact that most of those years had been spent away from the living--it had been refreshing to be among people again, especially as one whose job it was to help.

Life--well, life AFTER life--had certainly turned out more complicated than he could have imagined while still human. And lonely. It had been fortunate he and his coven had found a way to both be a part of humanity again and eat humanely--gurney to table, so to speak.

But, business had been unusually slow, and that meant that the entire family was pretty damn hungry.

He made his way downstairs to the mortuary, where he found Charley wheeling in Mr. Kim.

"Sorry, man," Charley said, pushing his wild dark hair back and wiping the sweat from his brow. He always ran so hot--a concept that was now completely lost on Jack after all these years of being undead. "Traffic was a nightmare."

It didn't matter, it was time.