Double, double toil and trouble

During the Renaissance Festival in Night Howls on the Hudson, Neal and Sara give impromptu performances of some of Shakespeare's most romantic moments. They're unaware that their actions inspire another to perform a rendition of another Shakespeare play, The Tempest. Astrena, goddess of witches and vampires, who is currently living among mortals as Electra, is not amused when Neal kisses another. She is as merciless as the witches in Macbeth, and she has no need of a cauldron to exact vengeance.

Back to the Cauldron

It's part of White Collar canon lore that Neal's romantic side is a vulnerability. In Caffrey Conversation, Rolf and Klaus Mansfeld have planted Bianka at Columbia University to take advantage of that weakness. After an intensive study of Neal's former loves Kate and Fiona, they selected a blend of qualities designed to appeal to Neal. Physical beauty, artistic talent, innocence, and sensuality were all placed in the magic cauldron, and they groomed Bianka to fit that image. But potions don't always work. Neal was never attracted to Bianka romantically, and now that he knows she's a tool of his arch-enemies, she's the one being conned.

Goya, a Lasting Influence

When I last wrote about Francisco Goya for our blog, I explored the connection between the art thief Curtis Hagen and the Spanish master artist, both in canon and in our series. At the time I was posting Raphael's Dragon, a Caffrey Conversation story. Hagen's ties to Goya were reinforced in the Crossed Lines story Witches' Sabbath when Hagen was held prisoner by Electra's sister Alcy. Neal had an opportunity to speak with Hagen in the witch's house and quizzed him about Goya. Hagen confessed that he'd experienced an unusual attraction to the artist. Like Neal, Hagen was a forger, but he wasn't at Neal's level. Unlike Neal, he didn't normally feel like he was merging with the artist when he made a forgery. But with Goya he did. He commented that it was as if Goya was in his mind.

Family Treasures

A favorite concept of Supernatural canon lore is that Dean and Sam rely on their father's journal. John Winchester made notes of his experiences throughout his career as a hunter. In the pilot episode, Dean acquired the worn notebook, and since then it has been their primary reference manual. To an outsider, the pages appear full of arcane scribbles and drawings. For Dean and Sam, it's a priceless resource.

The Wolf Pack

So far no actual wolves have popped into my current story, Night Howls on the Hudson, but they've been much on my mind. Wolves are a recurring theme in many of our series.