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There was crying: lots of crying. And howling. There was a lot of that, too.
"Cora…" Talia bent down in front of her daughter to gently squeeze her shoulders and look into her eyes. "Derek only meant that it would be a bit risky. Why don’t you just be a human princess, huh?"
Cora pulled away with a shrill “Hmmph!” and crossed her arms, hanging her head. “Because I don’t wanna to be a human for Halloween!” The little girl lifted her head and let out a long howl, defiantly exposing her fangs and letting her ears, claws, and extra hair grow out underneath her glittery pink garments. Derek grunted in response.
"What little girl in their right mind would go trick-or-treating as a werewolf princess?" he growled. "No one, that’s who. If a hunter sees you, he’ll have your head." Talia frowned with a sigh, leaning back against the door frame. It was going to be a long night.
"Now wait a minute." A voice called out from around the corner. It was Peter, carrying a huge bowl full of Reese’s peanut butter cups that were to be handed out at the front door (despite the fact that they almost never got any trick-or-treaters out here in the middle of the woods). "I think it would be a fantastic costume." He strode over to Cora while plucking a Reese’s out of the bowl. He held it above the bucket that was clutched tightly in her hands between her petite clawed fingers. "What do we say?" he grinned.
"Give me the candy, Uncle Peter…" She paused for dramatic effect. "Or I’ll rip your throat out with my teeth." She grinned wide and flashed her eyes, purposely exposing as much of her fangs as possible. Even with the tiara, it was terrifying.
For a moment, there was silence as the three of them stared at her. Then Peter shrugged his shoulders. “Fair enough.” He said, dropping the Reese’s into her bucket.
"I suppose it’s alright. Just be careful." Talia said. "You two should be heading out soon. It’s getting late."
"But Mom! If Laura gets to go out, then I-" Derek began to protest the cruel and unusual punishment that was being forced to take his sister trick-or-treating instead of hanging out with friends when the door bell began to go off in a series of enthusiastic rings. Being too distracted to notice them approach the house before, they now heard the shrill giggling of little boys coming from the front porch.
“Two!” Peter said excitedly, stepping towards the door, candy dish in hand. He stopped to listen before turning the door handle.
“Ssh, sssh! What if it’s haunted?” They heard one boy say.
“The lights are on! What kind of ghosts use lights?” The other boy, the one who was still pressing the doorbell repeatedly, replied.
“Who would live in a big creepy house in the middle of the woods? Maybe they’re murderers.” Peter could hear the boy shiver as he spoke. What a cutie.
The other boy finally stopped ringing the doorbell and answered his friend. “Nah, if anything, I bet their werewolves. Aroo!”
Suddenly, the air erupted with a loud, considerably more realistic howl of “AAWWOOOOOO!!!” as Cora howled loudly in response, quite to the surprise of her family. They could hear the two boys jump back in response, one of them falling backwards off of the porch.
Peter quickly opened the door to see. Stiles was jumping down the steps as he called out to his friend.
“Scott, buddy, are you okay? Ah!” he yelled in surprise as Scott sat up, clutching a bloodied elbow. Tears were beginning to well in his eyes.
“Cora, look what you did!” Derek shouted at his sister as he and his mother joined Peter outside.
“It’s not my fault that boy’s a wimp!” she huffed.
“Quiet! Both of you!” Talia crouched down beside Scott, helping him to stand up. “I am so sorry, dear.” she said to him consolingly. “Come inside and let me patch you up.” She led him up the porch and inside of the house. Stiles followed closely behind.
When the reached inside, the two boys gave frightened glances at Cora, who was still partially shifted. After a moment, however, Stiles said “Wow! Cool costume! Look, Scott, she’s a werewolf AND a princess!”. The boy’s genuine excitement put a smile on the girl’s face.
“See, Derek!” she punched him in the arm as he walked inside. He huffed in response.
After Talia had cleaned Scott’s cut and put on a band-aid (not before she took his pain away while rubbing on some neosporin, claiming it was “magic healing cream”), she lead the boy to Peter and his candy bowl.
“Take as much as you like, boys.” She smiled at them and gestured towards the bowl. “We don’t want any hard feelings.”
The boys enthusiastically grabbed handfuls of the Reese’s and place them in their buckets. Peter was none too thrilled.