Katie could have almost sworn that she heard a tinge of jealousy, more clear than fear in Tiff's words and quickly realized why she was making such a big deal about werewolves. Every time they got together they would watch old horror movies, any kind, but especially those with monsters. Aliens, giant bugs, vampires, werewolves, mutants, anything at all and Tiff loved them. Now she had a chance to pretend that they really were in a horror movie, trapped in a creepy old house and facing the curse of the werewolf. Because they were such good friends Katie realized that it would be best if she were to play along, it was probably the reason Tiff had wanted to explore the house in the first place, so that she could imagine that she was in one of those movies she loved so much.
"You're right Tiff, there's no telling what he might have created. Do you think he really was a mad scientist?"
Such a statement was exactly what Tiff had been hoping to hear and she launched into an explanation with gusto, "He was probably looking for a cure for his own lycanthropy and made the serum to infect others rapidly for testing. His death wasn't an accident, werewolf hunters probably found out about him and killed him. The story about electrocution was a cover up to hide that he had been shot through the heart by a silver bullet!"
Katie fought back a laugh, "Maybe he was working on the cure when he was killed. We need to find his notes before it's too late."
This time Tiff laughed with excitement and broke the mood for a moment, "Thank you so much Katie. This is going to be an awesome afternoon. I mean I used the whole science project story to set the stage for my creative writing final project. I'm going to write about what we find here and the whole werewolf thing should get me an A for sure."
"How can you talk about your grades when at any moment I could turn into a horrible slavering beast?" Katie could hardly get the words out through fits of giggles. It was just too much for her and she ended up doubled over with laughter. Tiff joined in and soon they wer laughing so hard they were crying.
"Alright, alright, that's enough," Katie tried to stop laughing and stand up, but as she did so what seemed like every bone in her back made a loud popping noise. Startled by this, she fell to the floor on her hands and knees.
Still fighting back laughter Tiff knelt down next to her, "Are you okay? Don't tell me you were laughing so hard you threw your back out."
Katie waved her friend away and staggered to her feet, "No, I'm fine. I think I just stood up too quickly."
She wiped the dust off her hands on her pant legs and in the process saw that there were dark smudges at the bases of her nails, "Oh gross. I've got dirt all under my nails and to make matters worse I think I bit the inside of my mouth during all that laughing."
It was true, though she couldn't locate any particular source of pain she could taste faint traces blood in her mouth.
Not ready to give up on pretending to be in a horror movie Tiff spoke up, "Weren't you saying that we had more important things to worry about, like you turning into a monster or something like that?"
"Yeah, I guess," Katie wiped her hands on her pants one last time, making a mental note that she would have to use some hand lotion when she got home since the palms of her hands felt a bit rough. Looking at them she saw that there were still patches of dirt on the palms of her hands. At first she thought it was a trick of the light, but it even looked like they were getting darker, and their shape and positioning was too regular for lack of a better word. The dirt smudges were the same on each hand. Turning them over to look at her nails again she saw that the black had spread, covering the entire nail and that they were longer and thicker.
"What's wrong with your hands? Are you starting to change already?" Tiff asked, under the impression that what Katie was doing was just part of their silly little game.
Her nails had grown into curving claws, nearly an inch long and when she ran her tongue over her teeth she could tell that the blood was flowing from her gums as her teeth grew longer and sharper, "Tiff, you were right. That stuff really is changing me!"
The panic in her voice was too real for Tiff to think that it was still a game. No longer in a joking mood she was able to see things that she couldn't believe that she had missed, such as streaks of gray starting to show up in Katie's hair.
There was another loud crack and Katie arched her back before falling to the floor on her hands and knees. It didn't hurt, which made it all the more disturbing. By the sounds her back and neck were making the process should have been excruciating, but she felt nothing what so ever out of the ordinary. Yet another series of cracking noises came from her body, this time from her ribcage as it began to deepen and expand, making her shirt uncomfortably tight. She attempted to try to take it off, her claws snagging the fabric and making the process more difficult than it should have been. Then Tiff was there helping her, pulling the shirt over her head. Katie felt it brush against her ears, now larger and higher on her head. In an unthinking response she flicked them, feeling new muscles flex.
She looked at her chest, ribs visible through her skin for a moment before a layer of muscle coated them. Despite her expanding chest, her breasts stayed as small as ever and under them, down her stomach four sets of nipples sprouted. Not breasts, just nipples like those of a dog, or wolf.
Next there was a pressure in the seat of her pants as a tail grew from the base of her spine. Tiff also helped her remove her pants and underwear to free the short length of skin and bone, not yet coated with fur. She pulled off her shoes and socks as her legs and feet shifted to something not quite human and not quite canine. Her feet became impossibly large paws with sharp claws and thick pads. It was a comfort of sorts to realize that the size of her feet probably had to do with supporting her frame when walking up right, since normally proportioned wolf paws would never work to support her weight.
When her nose and mouth grew into a short muzzle she nearly went cross eyed trying to watch. Bringing her hands up to her face she could feel that the entire shape of her head had changed. Her muzzle was shorter and wider than that of a real wolf her head was considerably larger, to house her human brain, "My skull's the same. That means I'll still be me, right?"
She spoke slowly and deliberately, having a hard time getting the words out around her sharp fangs.
"I think," Tiff held out a shaking hand to help her up.
Katie took it and pulled herself to her feet. Comparing herself to Tiff she saw that despite her torso being longer than before, she had become shorter by several inches between her legs getting shorter and her having to hunch over slightly to maintain her balance.
As she stood there, looking herself over, fur finally began to sprout all over her body. Fine and gray, it was softer than that of a wolf, but more fur like that human hair. It coated her back and tail thickly, thinner on her face and the inner areas of her arms and legs, and nothing more than a downy fuzz on her chest and stomach.
An entirely canine whimper escaped her, "Tiff I think it's over."