Staying close together, John and Carrie made their way through the gathering crowds along the main street, in the area designated Halloween Town.
With half-an-hour still to go before moonrise (or so Carrie's new sense of intuition told her), the parade kicked off. Amongst the decorated floats were a travelling coach and four black horses, driven by a ghostly coachman; a number of large, laughing Jack-O-Lanterns bouncing along the road, a male and female mummy (bound together by some extra bandages) waving to the crowd from a pyramid-shaped float; a giant Jack Skellington and Sally, some kids in Goblin masks (or were they the real thing?), and lots more besides.
There were also some vampires and humanoid werewolves present - all baring their fangs at any of the human audience they passed close to. Carnival, then horror-film theme, music filled the air from the speakers fitted to the street lights.
"Wow! Great costumes! Especially that ghost! Do you think they're all actors - or are any of them for real?" John asked Carrie as they stood just behind the barricade.
"Hard to say, given what we've been told about this place," Carrie considered. "But look at the wolf men! They seem real - their legs look like a wolf's, or what a wolf's rear legs would be like if it decided to become a biped!"
"Yeah. The bones look wrong for them to be actors in costumes..." John trailed off, as he looked into the sky. "But in that case - if they really are werewolves, then where's the full moon? It's not quite dusk, either!"
"Maybe they don't need the moon," Carrie replied thoughtfully. "Maybe it's the magic in this place - or they've got good control over their ability to transform themselves." She looked closely at the last pair of wolf people, who were loping (and dancing, in a fashion) close by. Both creatures looked human-sized and muscular. Their eyes flashed yellow once in a while. And yet, if they were children in fur suits, on stilts (which was the only alternative), then they moved and danced with surprising grace. Their tails twitched realistically.
Carrie sniffed the air. She was picking up a musky scent from the wolf-people. That settled it...
She noticed that her husband seemed engrossed in the werewolves. Carrie laid her hand on his shoulder. "Something wrong?" she asked.
"Uh - I'm convinced those creatures are for real, Cas!" he replied. "That wolf man there even appears to have a sheath. The next wolf man doesn't, but..."
Carrie giggled, and leaned on John's shoulder. "That's because that one's a wolf woman, silly! Look - she has four little teats."
"Oh? I see! But..she...doesn't have... Her chest is practically flat!"
"Well, she-wolves don't have bosoms. So if a woman became half-wolf, her breasts would logically shrink!" Carrie could smell something in her husband's scent now - and it intrigued her that she was acquiring the ability to smell emotions. "Do they...captivate you, John?" she asked.
He nodded, and admitted, "They seem somehow...beautiful."
"I agree with you," Carrie confessed. She wrapped her arm around him, and John responded in kind. She was excited now. Before long, she would transform and become a wolf woman - hopefully as sleek and alluring as the one they'd just witnessed dancing. She looked forward to teasing John with her new form.
"You feel hot!" John removed himself from Carrie, and pressed his hand against her forehead. "Are you all right, Cas?"
The heat from her heart and lower regions was slowly spreading through her body. Carrie could feel the first stirrings of the change beginning. Her bones were now starting to stretch and twist, and her pubic hair seemed to be expanding...
Moonrise!
"Er, yes. I'm fine, darling... But I've got a surprise for you! Let's find somewhere private."
Puzzled, John let Carrie lead him away from the crowds. His wife walked quickly over to a nearby park, which was lit only along a few paths, now that the sun was setting. Carrie stopped next to a clump of bushes, and John stood patiently in the gathering gloom.
"Wait here, sweety." She kissed him. "And whatever happens...don't be afraid!" Cover your ears... Close your eyes, and...count to one hundred! I'll...be back...shortly!"
Damn! It was getting hard to talk - or even breathe, thought Carrie. She inhaled John's manly scent, and held her tongue inside her mouth - least she started to drool in front of him. Acting quickly, she ran into the bushes, dropped her handbag, and began to take off her clothes - before she ran the risk of ripping into them with the sharper nails that Carrie could now see at the ends of her shortening fingers...