Sunday Snippet: Ghoulish Games (a Lantern Jack tale)

Ugh. Still feelingterrible and under the weather. The respiratory yuck that's going around in myarea is awful. I think I'm through the worst. Fingers crossed!

Had a whole slew ofnew projects land in my inbox this week. I'm so thankful for the work and trulyhope I can get back to a normal schedule where I don't crash several times aday and need to rest.

Slow viewing week,mainly due to the aforementioned rest periods. When I only got about two tothree hours of sleep at a stretch, those nap sessions were super important.

I started the fifthand final season of Suspects. Wow, brutal opening episode and kind of aheartbreaker. I have a feeling Jack is going to go completely off the rails.And Charlie needs to have a moment to grieve and wrap her head aroundeverything.

I finished thetenth season of Brokenwood Mysteries. I love this show so much. I'lllook forward to the next season with lots of anticipation.

Caught anotherepisode of Best in Paradise. I rather liked meeting Humphrey's dad andrewatching this episode ended up being a great reminder of how fierce Florence couldbe.

Enjoyed an episodeof Death in Paradise. I'd watched a little of this one and I'm glad I gotto see it from beginning to end. Very twisty plot threads in this one.

Watched another episodeof Elementary. Nice to see Mycroft again. Loved the new dynamic betweenthe brothers. Gotta say I'm on the fence with the whole Watson sleeping with Mycroftdeal, but we'll see if I come down on one side or the other later.

Caught an episodeof The Batman and it's one I remember from my original watch. I likedseeing Dick in school and the double-cross by the Riddler ended up being fun.The ending, though, topped everything.

Enjoyed a ClassicRugrats episode that departed from the normal two to three vignettes. "Finsterella"was such a fun episode of the show.

And that's prettymuch it for the life update this week. Tonight's post is from Ghoulish Games,a Lantern Jack tale featuring a nymph and a hellhound.

Here's theminiblurb:

Lantern Jack is back to right another wrong. When GlennaGreer finds a man on her doorstep she faces a dilemma. Use her powers tosave—which she is forbidden to do—or let him possibly die. The urge to heal isstrong in the wood nymph and she risks banishment going against her clan'sdirective. When she discovers Radbourne Renner is a hellhound, she's really ina quandary.

And a preview snippet…

A pounding head,throbbing pain in his side, and complete disorienting location gave RadbourneRenner his first taste of fear in over a decade. "What happened!" Theheadache made his brain mushy. "Where am I and how the hell did I get here?"An image of Jared Janko popped into his mind. "Aw, fuck, no.'' His breathhissed out between his teeth. "That asshat is behind this." The throbin his side burned and he put his hand against it. "Shit." Hisfingers came away covered in blood. He paused, taking a labored breath."No wonder I'm a mess. I've been fucking stabbed."Rad had no idea whatset Janko off this time. They'd been unfriendly rivals almost since birth.Radbourne tended to avoid tangling with Jared … usually didn't have the patienceto deal with the hothead and learned from experience the man had no honor. Hehad a mean streak, a bloated ego, and fought dirty—the wound in Rad's side atestament to that fact. The head of homestead banned weapons for anyoneattending the gatherings.Rad snorted then wincedwhen another searing stitch reminded him of the gash. "Apparently Jankodidn't get the memo." More like the dickhole chose to ignore the head'scommand.Then freaked out when anddumped Rad in the middle of nowhere. A vague memory of being dragged to a truckand hoisted into the bed skittered through his aching mind. Trying to get hisbearings, Radbourne couldn't get past the pain to scent the way toward home. Or… Janko masked the trail, hoping Rad would perish and leave Jared in the clear.His focus went dark and gray again. Imminent peril had his preternatural senseskicking in.Radbourne sniffed theair. "There's someone living out here." He followed his nose andnearly fell down in gratitude when a small cottage came into view.With his visionswimming, he stumbled toward the house and hopefully help. Less than ten feetfrom the porch, his knees gave out and he sprawled to the ground in a heap. Numband dizzy, he didn't even attempt to get back up.He tried to call out,but his voice only gurgled in his throat. "Dammit, so close, soclose." He closed his eyes, unable to fight the heavy sensation spreadingthrough his body.On a long exhale, theblack veil of unconsciousness swallowed him whole.

I love writing the LanternJack tales. Glenna and Radbourne are getting Jack closer to fulfilling his penanceand ready to move on to his afterlife.

 

That's it for thisweek.

Cheers!

Skye