Corax and Grum Pt. 01.5

This story cannot be understood without reading part one, so please review that one before reading this. However, if you are happy with the ending of Part 1, it is not required to read this. In my opinion, somethings are better left unsaid.

I liked the original story. Well, I wrote it so I should like it, right? But there are always readers who are completionists, and want to see all loose ends tied up. I wrote this in honor of those folks, for whom destroying all versions of the villains across all eternities wasn't enough, and they needed to find out about the original ones who seemingly got away with their crime. In a big way, my enjoyment of FTDS and their excellent style of closure is the reason for writing this. I really enjoyed trying on their suit for writing this, even if it didn't fit quite right. No one can fill their sizeable shoes. You are missed, FTDS.

By all means, do read and enjoy this if a.) you are a fan of the original characters and want more until I write Part 2, b.) upbeat endings aren't for you and want something more gruesome, c) you only like it when stories have closure, and closure of a particular sort. If so, I hope this little scene entertains you. If not, you can write one of your own.

There is no sex whatsoever in this part, although some is hinted at. All characters are over 18. All mistakes are mine, including the decision to write this in the first place.

Like Pt. 1, this tale has many possible classifications. Although there is no actual sex in this, I kept this in Loving Wives, since it's directly connected to Pt. 1, which was an LW story.

A last bit: Always be good hosts. A little manners goes a long way.

*****

Epilogue (10 Years after the conclusion of Part 1)

Now empty nesters, Ken Foley sat at the dinner table as his wife Kris cleared the evening's dishes when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," he said, rising from his seat with a spring in his step. "I asked the agent for the condo downtown to come by when papers were ready." The house was too big for them alone now that Sophie had moved to campus, and downsizing to a cute small condo was the next project for the couple. Ken had been unusually active in the search for an acceptable new place.

Opening the door with a grin, Ken's face quickly dropped, as it wasn't Denise, the young hardbody real estate agent he had been emptying his seedbags into.

Instead of the petite spinner, a towering, skinny man, dressed in an old black suit and overcoat with a Scally cap on stood there. The man was taller than the door frame. Ken was a good-sized guy, and still pretty fit at age fifty-five, if he did say so. But this guy dwarfed him. There was no vehicle in the driveway behind him. He must've walked.

A stray mongrel dog sat attentively beside the man. The dog did not look healthy, as a yellow drool dripped from its panting mouth. And the way the dog looked at him was creepy, as if it was ... hungry?

"Good evening. Mr. Ken Foley?" Ken nodded. "My name is Corax, and this is Grum." The tall man's hand shot forward with a business card in hand. Ken took the card, black on the front with white letters, white on the back with black writing.

Corax and Grum

Settling of Accounts

Ken's eyes could barely focus on the text; reading it made him dizzy. He looked away and tried to blink his eyes. He'd been putting it off, but he was gonna need to go to the optometrist soon. Time and age caught up with every one eventually.

"Are you from the finance company? Agents?" Ken asked, looking back up at the giant.

"Of a sort. May we come in? Our colleague may be joining us, momentarily. We won't trouble you for long." Ken eyed Grum, but the dog seemed docile, despite the way it kept staring at Ken.

"Um, sure," he said, a bit deflated. He was excited for Denise to visit. Her ass was a playground, and she looked so good on the end of his -

"Most appreciated," Corax ducked, entering the domicile and removing his hat. Grum took two steps in and sat at attention.

"Who is it, hon?" Kris came around the corner, wiping her hands dry. "Is it the agent? Oh!" She stopped short, seeing an enormous man peering down at her, his head cocked askance, like she was a bug he was deciding whether or not to squash. The dog next to him snorted. It looked sickly, she thought.

"Mrs. Kristen Foley, I presume?" The tall man smiled in a most disturbing way. His large yellow teeth crowded that smile and looked as though they were lined up in rows, like an industrial shredder. Or a shark.

Kris nodded.

"My name is Corax, of Corax and Grum," the voice was odd in a way Ken couldn't put his finger on, accented but reassuring. Like a warm cup of tea. "We are a one-of-a-kind service specializing in relocations. You were referred to us as a couple in need of an especially customized service." Both Kris and Ken felt a little more at ease, knowing they merited special service. "We'd like to talk to you a bit about that, if we could?"

Kris was swayed by the honeyed talk, and gestured for the man to come in. "Can the dog stay there?"

Corax looked at her, uncomprehending for a moment, before looking down at Grum and then understanding. He nodded. "Of course."

"Would your dog need some water?" she asked, a little wary of the way Grum was eyeing her.

"Oh, no. Thank you. Grum has a sensitive stomach and has a special diet." The smile.

Ken felt he didn't want to be standing so close to the man, so he showed Corax in and the couple sat on the couch while he sat in the chair facing them. Despite the charm of Corax, both fidgeted nervously.

Corax began, "I am sure you are busy, so I shall be brief. As I said, Corax and Grum are part of an elite agency for relocations. Our work is so elite that our relocations tend to be permanent. We will bring you to your final home. Your referral indicated that you both deserve a unique settlement."

Ken and Kris brightened at this. It was nice to be so well thought of by friends. "Who referred you to us?" Ken asked.

Corax continued as if not hearing. "Now I need a bit of information from you. It is only you two living here now? No children in the house?"

Kris nodded "Our youngest just left to start her junior year at the state college. All are out of the house. That's why we want to move."

"We need to downsize and simplify," Ken added.

"Yes, of course," Corax drawled, sounding like a smarmy game show host. "We have been asked to help you there as well. You've both had good lives, it seems."

They nodded. "We like to think so," Kris said.

"Treated those around you with kindness and compassion."

They both nodded again, a little more slowly. This was an odd direction to take for a conversation about a real estate relocation.

"Honored and respected those who helped you?" Corax's face darkened, both in mood and complexion. The color of his skin seemed to darken, along with the serious expression on his face.

Both of them exchanged a quick glance. This was getting uncomfortable.

Corax tilted his head at Kris, focusing on her. "You were married previously, Mrs. Kristen Foley, were you not? You were, at one time, Mrs. Kristen Whalley?" At the door, Grum chuffed, a deep rumbling sound, far too low and powerful to come from an animal that size.

Kris nodded with a squeak, but it was Ken who spoke, standing "What is the meaning of this? My wi-"

Corax snapped his focus to Ken, cutting him off. The toothy grin. "I'm simply gathering the information to do my job, Mr. Ken Foley." The ring of the doorbell broke the tension. "Ah, that would be our associate. Who happens to be the referrer for you." Ken was grateful to have an excuse to get away. He moved to answer the door, giving Grum a wide berth.

Ken opened the door, and stepped back, as if pushed.

"Hello, Ken," Brian Whalley said, looking very fit and stylish in an elegantly tailored black suit. "May I come in?"

Ken just stared, dumbfounded.

"Ken," Kristen croaked. "Who is it?" Ken was frozen.

It was Corax who broke the silence. "Mr. Ken Foley, I would recommend you welcome your guest."

Ken nodded, jaw hanging down. "Please. Come in."

Word of Brian's passing had filtered back to Ken and Kris ten years ago, but those were different times and both chose not to think about their roles in that. All that was in the past, and better not spoken of.

Brian stepped in, and Kris shrieked, covering her mouth with her hands. She did not feel very well at all.

Brian patted Ken on the shoulder. "Ken." But there was nothing friendly about Brian at the moment. This was a very different Brian. First, he looked to be only about twenty-five. Brian, if alive, should've been in his sixties. But it was Brian's eyes, which seemed to be even more disturbing. Old, dark, knowing eyes. Eyes which had seen things far beyond what even a sixty-year-old man should have. Eyes that flickered and changed. There was a deep and malevolent intelligence in them. The look alone had told Ken that the thing wearing Brian Whalley was very, very dangerous.

Ken was nauseous, and happy when Brian turned to address Grum. "Hello, old friend. You look well!" He leaned over to scratch the dog behind his ears and under his chin. Ken saw something unspoken pass between the two. "Yes, I know. Soon." A pause. "Could you keep the spectacle to a minimum this time, please? Thanks."

Kristen moaned on the couch, rocking back and forth. Ken closed the door, but stayed well back. The gun safe in his study, just off the main room, had a loaded Beretta in it. He began edging towards it.

Brian stood and walked into his old house. He sniffed the air, but made a face as if it didn't agree with him. "Hello Corax." The tall man had turned, and now stood. "Have our hosts offered you tea?"

"Hello Brian! No, unfortunately, they haven't."

Brian went to the table and pulled a chair, dragging it to the area where they were seated. He reached into his suit jacket and removed a silver vacuum thermos. "Let's fix that, shall we?" Brian poured a cup, handed it over and placed the thermos on the coffee table between them and a very pale and now weeping Kristen. "Grum?" Brian said to the air. "Not yet." He remained standing.

Finally, he focused on Kris. "Hello, Kris."

The words broke her, as she burst into tears, blubbering and sobbing a string of words, apologies and pleadings. "Shh, shh, shhhh." He said, finger to his lips, but it wasn't intended to be comforting. She did stop making the noise, but just mewled piteously instead, red faced and snotty.

"Nobody move!" Ken screamed, jumping out from the study doorway, taking an awkward shooter's stance. He waved the gun from Corax to Brian. Neither one of them seemed remotely interested in Ken. Both were intently focused on Kris, in differing degrees of unkind interest. "I said nobody move!" Ken was a degree or two short of being completely unhinged.

"No one is moving," Corax noted, his gaze remaining fixed on the woman.

"Get the fuck out of my house!" Ken's voice broke.

Brian's eyebrow went up. He turned to Ken. "Your house? I bought this house for my wife."

Ken squeezed the trigger. The gun barked, the round hitting Brian in the shoulder. At least that was what Ken saw, but Brian didn't move, or even seem to notice.

Brian sniffed. "I always hated that smell. Couldn't stand guns. Grum?"

A reduced-in-size Grum unfolded partially into the living room; the sudden introduction of his bulk, even at fifty percent size, into a space where nothing had been before, caused a small shock wave which shook the room. His bulk tossed furniture aside and knocked decorations from the walls.

Ken voided his bladder in absolute terror at seeing this form of Grum appear, causing a stain in his slacks, even as he unloaded the entire magazine at monster in his living room. Grum was on him in a heartbeat, moving blindingly fast for such a beastly bulk.

"Ken! Ken! Ken!" Brian shouted, drowned out by the gunfire. Grum had knocked the gun from a panicked Ken and using several of the short appendages which ended with hands, picked him up and placed him near the sofa. Corax, still seated, sipped his tea, while Brian stepped over to Ken, and firmly guided him to sit next to their wife. "Sit." Brian noted Kris, too, stunk of urine.

"Well, I hope we're past the theatrics?" Brian adjusted the cuffs of his shirt. Taking the chair, he sat next to Corax and the two of them looked at the terrified couple across the table from them. Grum scuttled behind the two chairs, drool puddling below his slavering jaws.

"There were a number of ways this evening could have gone," Brian sighed, "But this was one of the less desirable ones."

Kris seemed to come alive. "Brian, I'm so sorry for what happened, for what we did!" Brian looked annoyed, which both Ken and Kris realized was a very dangerous thing, but she couldn't help herself.

Ken, ever the mildly dim bulb, thought this was the right time to chime in. "It was a terrible thing we did. We both agreed it was awful, but we had committed to the plan and needed you to understand it was over. Make a clean break."

Brian nodded, and fixed his gaze on him. "Well, Ken, the last time you two sat on that couch and said nearly the same words to me, things were much different. You had the advantage at the time. Several advantages, if I recall," Brian grinned sardonically. "But mostly, you had the smug, smirking look of a bully.

"My how times change." The couple were sobbing again, very aware of being the focus of unwanted attention from three very scary characters.

"But I'm not here about apologies, even if they were anything beyond your selfish, insincere justifications. I'm quite well beyond that, in every sense of the word. I know what you are, underneath it all.

"Ken you still try to fuck anything that moves, and have never been faithful to Kris at any time for more than a few weeks." Both gasped. "You currently have three mistresses on the side, one you have contracted herpes from and another, your real estate agent en-route this evening, Miss Denise Myshinski, is pregnant with your child. She plans to inform you of this later this evening." Kris gasped and leaned away. "The money you spend on them and some bad investments have left you in a rather precarious financial position. You need to sell this house for the cash alone." Brian smiled insincerely. "You're welcome, for that."

"Kris, my loving wife," Back in the spotlight, Kris shrunk back hearing her name spoken. "You've had three abortions, two of which were Ken's. Since menopause, you've found Ken's advances to be disgusting and were quietly seeing your lesbian yoga instructor, hoping you two could run off together." Ken's feathers were ruffled at the revelation.

"Needless to say, neither of you are worthy enough to justify what you did twenty years ago..." Brian checked his watch theatrically "Exactly today!

"I have been asked here tonight to fulfill a very important function. When we are finished, Corax and Grum are responsible for escorting you to the next level, the stage beyond this. They must wait until you have been harvested though. Tonight, I have been allowed, through no small favor, to be The Harvester and grant you the mercy of release."

Kris and Ken were not really following his words, but they knew that whatever it was he was talking about was not good. Brian's smile was barely covering his contempt.

Seeing their confusion, Brian spoke as plainly as he could. "You both will die, here tonight." This set off a new round of tears and moaning from the couch. He stood, pocketed the Thermos and moved his chair out of the way. Corax, likewise, stood and slid the easy chair to clear space. They both picked up the coffee table and moved it, clearing a path to the couch. "Corax and Grum will take the sad, unworthy remains of you to the fate that awaits you afterwards." He saw both of their eyes flick between Corax, now standing as an immense raven with his head scraping the ceiling, and Grum, whose utter silence and flexing hands was somehow even more sinister. "They are not allowed to take you until I have determined you are ready. Until then, you stay here, in this room, in your bodies, with us. You're here, alive and conscious, until I say so."

Grum scuttled forward.

"I suffered for ten years from what you two did to me, my kindness mocked by your unfaithfulness, sadistic cruelty and treachery." Reaching the couch, Grum sniffed at the two of them, his beak snapping open and shut. Kris appeared to faint but couldn't and remained conscious. Ken's complete panic snapped when Grum turned to him, angling at the soiled crotch of Ken's pants.

"I doubt you'll last ten minutes. But I won't be upset if I'm wrong.

Brian smiled when he saw where Grum was aiming. "I hope you're hungry, Grum. Apparently, there's a lot of meat there.

"I'll leave you kids to it! Bon Appetit."

Turning away from the screaming husband and wife on the couch, and the sounds of Grum, Brian extended his hand to Corax.

"Thanks again for making this happen."

"Think nothing of it. It was a nice relief for the regular to let someone else take a turn. And you wear the suit well."

"You're too kind," Brian said, admiring the fit of the uniform. "It is quite nice, though."

"Besides, Grum wouldn't shut up about being so hungry. He was a bit self-serving in trying to get you in on this event."

They watched the thrashing on the other side of the room. Brian cringed at Grum's noises.

"Would you consider a more formal job in this?" Corax asked, turning towards the door and placing his cap back on.

"Can I think about it?" Brian opened the door to the cool June evening air.

"You've got all the time in the world."

Corax ducked as both stepped out of the house and into the evening air as a small, expensive coupe pulled into the driveway. Brian stepped forward, leaving Corax on the front step, and whistled lightly as he went to greet it.