At Speculative Chic, we feature a lot of authors who share everything from their favorite things to the inspiration for their work. But why not also share their fiction? Welcome to Fiction Friday, where you’ll be able to sample the fiction of a variety of authors, including those who write at Speculative Chic! Today, we’re featuring Megan Mackie to celebrate the upcoming release of her newest Lucky Devil Series novel, The Devil’s Day, available October 31!
About the Book
The Devil’s Day (2020)
Written by: Megan Mackie
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Cyberpunk
Series: Lucky Devil #3
Publisher: eSpec Books
You can always find help at the Lucky Devil.
Rune Leveau — emerging Talent and one-time corporate prisoner — knew that better than anyone. She’d rebuilt her life at the Lucky Devil bar, with her Aunt Maddie’s help. Now, in her aunt’s memory, Rune continues that legacy.
But when it is time for the Devil to collect his due, Rune could lose it all…
With the days counting down until she must defend her claim to the House of Magdalene — including the bar — Rune and her partner, the cyber-spy St. Benedict, hunt for a way to defeat her challenger, the fire Talent, Abraxas. Instead, they uncover long-kept secrets. But do they hold the key?
No matter what, the Devil will have its Day…
Available for Pre-Order from: Publisher
There are 3 days left to support stretch goals for this book’s Kickstarter campaign!
Catch Up on the Series
The Devil’s Day Excerpt
The wind blew cold as Rune turned down the alleyway, taking a short cut toward home.
It was getting more and more frustrating to continue taking these jade coin gigs. What had been maybe a once a month thing had multiplied since the turn of the new year into three a week. And yes, the money was nice, but she was starting to feel burned out. Rumor and reputation that someone at the Lucky Devil bar was back to doing favors after the late Maddie passed, brought with a whole load of new messes, some Rune could not possibly do anything about. If she could, she did, like this favor for Christopher. At least she hoped she could help him.
Tromping her way as fast as possible to get to the next client, she didn’t notice the figure standing against the wall until he set a cardboard box on fire in front of her.
“Geez!” Rune screeched as she jumped away from it before whirling on the boy standing there laughing his head off. In response, a field of yellow energy enveloped Rune, projecting out from her open hand while the other was wrapped around her shielding crystal. “Dammit, Abraxas!”
The smug bastard continued to grin as he leaned back against the old brick of the wall, surveying her magic-fed shield. Snowflakes gently fell across his face, giving him an air of the mystical.
He was dressed all in black, like always, with the addition of a long black trenchcoat over a black hooded sweatshirt, the hood up. Leaning against the wall, he crossed his skinny jean legs at his skinny ankles. Strangely enough, the dummy was wearing black converse and flashed a pale strip of ankle despite the mid-calf depth of snow in the alley. The only thing out of place with his uncaring emo look was rosy in his cheeks, possibly caused from the magic fire that naturally burned within him.
“What do you want, Abraxas?” Rune demanded from the fire Talent, not daring to drop her shield, even as she straightened up within it.
“What do you think, Levaeu?” he challenged.
Yeah, she knew what he wanted. “I’m not fighting with you here.”
“The House is mine,” he growled, pushing off the wall. Despite knowing he couldn’t get through her shield, Rune startled back from him a step anyway. “This… this is a public area, Abraxas. You can’t have a brawl with me in the streets.”
“Because you’d lose, and you know it,” he said, his face inches from the gold surface of her shield. “You couldn’t even create this wall if it wasn’t for that.” He stabbed a finger at the crystal in Rune’s fist.
It was true, the crystal was made by Maddie, not Rune herself, packed with the spell that allowed her to generate her shield. All Rune needed to do was run her own magical energy through it. Anyone with magical Talent could do that.
But the flames bursting from Abraxas’ fingers, that magic was all him. He flicked the small fire he created at her shield. Naturally, it pinged back toward himself before dissipating away.
Rune jutted her chin at him defiantly. He grinned back wickedly and Rune felt unsure.
With lightening speed, he flattened both hands and shoved hard against her shield. There was a pop sound in Rune’s eardrums at the same time as the world spun away. It stopped a moment later when she slammed against the brick wall behind her. Automatically, her shield dropped as she lost hold of the crystal. With the wind knocked out of her, she began to panic. She managed to intake the first breath just in time for Abraxas to grab her by the collar to pin her against the wall.
“Give me your House willingly, and this stops.”
“How… how did you do that?” she gasped out.
Abraxas laughed mockingly. “Come on, you have got to see what I mean by unworthy, right? You’re not that stupid are you? You don’t even know the basics of magic. How can you manage a whole House? I’m doing you a favor. You’re in over your head.”
“You need to leave me alone, Abraxas,” Rune warned, trying to push the hand that held her coat and pinned her to the wall off her. It wasn’t fair that the stupid skinny asshole was still stronger than her.
“Are you delaying the contest because you know you can’t take me in straight fight?”
Yes.
“No.”
Rune tried not to flinch. She knew exactly how that sounded. Abraxas had challenged her as Head of her House in what had been described to her as an official “wizard’s duel.” She had a year and a day to answer his challenge.
That was seven months ago.
She was kind of putting it off.
“You can’t…” she started to say right before he slapped her hard across the face. Judging from the jittery excitement and overly bright light in his own eyes, slapping was not something Abraxas did much of. It seemed to both thrill and frighten him. Like a little boy who had just punted his first frog and wasn’t sure if he liked it or not.
Rune’s insides felt sick and a faint bad memory threatened in the back of her mind. She pushed it down and it took every bit of her will to meet Abraxas’ eye.
“Now, you listen to me,” Abraxas said, letting go of her coat and taking a step back, bouncing a little on his toes like someone had attached super bouncy balls to his shoes. “You either yield your House, or you set a time and date for our duel and you do it soon. I’m not going to keep hanging around for you to get your shit together. Your House belongs to me and the sooner you realize that, the better.”
Rune felt her whole body quiver as he stalked off down the alley. It was only when he rounded the corner, that the swallowed cry in her throat broke free. She sobbed, coughing up tears as she slid down the wall to squat in the cold frozen alley alone.
About the Author
Megan Mackie is a writer, actor, and playwright. She started her writing career as an indie author and had such smashing success in her first year with her inaugural book The Finder of the Lucky Devil, that she made the transition to traditional publishing. She has become a personality at many cons, recognizable by her iconic leather hat and engaging smile. She has recently joined Bard’s Tower, a mobile con bookstore, and has sold her books next to great authors such as Peter David, Melinda Snodgrass, Dan Wells, Claudia Gray, John Jackson Miller, and Jim Butcher, to name a few.
She has written four novels including: The Finder of the Lucky Devil, The Saint of Liars, Death and the Crone, and Saint Code: Lost all of which will be re-releasing through eSpec Books. She is also a contributing writer in the role-playing game Legendlore soon to be published by Onyx Path Publishing.
Outside of writing she likes to play games: board games, RPGs, and video games. She has a regular Pathfinder group who is working their way through Rapanthuk. She lives in Chicago with her husband and children, dog, three cats, and her mother in the apartment upstairs.
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Author Photo by Devron Enarson of Dev Photography
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