Death Before Dragons

I'm Val Thorvald, and I'm an assassin. When magical bad guys hurt people, I take care of them. Permanently. This doesn't make me popular with the rest of the magical community - as you can tell from the numerous break-ins and assassination attempts I've endured over the years. But thanks to my half-elven blood, a powerful sword named Chopper, and a telepathic tiger with an attitude, I've always been able to handle my problems with aplomb. Maybe some cursing and swearing, too, but definitely aplomb. That changes when my boss is afflicted with a mysterious disease, a government agent starts investigating me, and a godforsaken dragon shows up in the middle of my latest job. I've taken down vampires, zombies, and ogres, but dragons are way, way more powerful. And it doesn't look like this one is going to like me. Worse than that, he wants to use his magic to compel me to do his bidding, as if I'm some weak-minded minion. That's not going to happen. I'd die before being some dragon's slave. But if I can't figure out a way to avoid him, save my boss, and get rid of the government spook, I'm screwed. Or dead. Or screwed and dead. And that's never comfortable.

If you think having one dragon around messes up your life, imagine what it's like when a second one shows up. I'm Val Thorvald, assassin of magical bad guys and tenuous ally to the dragon lord Zav. He still calls me a mongrel and thinks I'm a criminal, but he healed my wounds after we fought those dark elves together. That's progress, right? Maybe one day, he'll deign to use my name. Not that this is my primary concern. I'm busy with a new assignment. Nin, the awesome lady who makes my magical weapons, has a werewolf problem. Specifically, sleazy loser werewolf competitors who want to drive her out of business. Or worse. Normally, a couple of werewolves wouldn't be a big deal, but these ones have powerful allies. And then there's that new dragon. It turns out he's one of Zav's enemies, and he wants to use me against him. I don't know why he's picking on me-it's not like I mean something to Zav-but somehow I've gotten stuck in the middle of dragon politics. If you think that sounds like a nightmare, you're right. If I can't figure out a way to help my friend with the werewolves while keeping these dragons from tearing me apart, we're both going to end up flatter than the deck chairs when Zav lands on the roof of my apartment building.

Dealing with dragons is hard. Dealing with a teenage daughter is even harder. My new mission involves both. Weird things are happening in Northern Idaho, and my boss is sending me to investigate. Unfortunately, my daughter and ex-husband are vacationing in the town that's at the center of the trouble. Coincidence? Or is someone targeting them to get at me? I'm a wanted woman right now. Not only by the criminal werewolves, orcs, and trolls that I'm often hired to kill. But by the Dragon Justice Court. An organization full of arrogant, powerful dragons is exactly as horrible as it sounds. They're the last beings you'd want after your family. If I can't get to the bottom of the mystery and convince the dragons I'm not their enemy, I stand to lose far more than my own life.

Dragons make life complicated. Extremely complicated. After returning from Idaho, I was hoping to have time to figure things out with Zav-also known as Lord Zavryd, the dragon who claimed me as his mate without asking-but the dark elves are up to their old tricks again. Actually, they're up to far more deadly tricks, using more powerful magic than I knew existed. I have no idea how I'm going to stop them, but if I can't, my entire city and everybody I care about could be obliterated. To make matters worse, Zav's sister has shown up and is rooting around in my life. His family doesn't approve of me, and she plans to put an end to our relationship... one way or another.

As a half-elf assassin and hunter of magical bad guys, I travel all over the Pacific Northwest on missions. When my boss sends me off to investigate a murder at a roadside attraction called the Oregon Vortex, I'm not worried. Especially not when my buddy Zav, AKA Lord Zavryd'nokquetal, the dragon I'm just friends with and not dating, comes along to help. But things go from weird to weirder when eerie magic pits me against Zav. And in case you couldn't guess, things don't go well when half-elves try to kill dragons.

I never thought I would date a dragon, or feed him chicken strips late at night, but life has gotten interesting. My steady dragon - you may know him as Lord Zavryd'nokquetal, but I get to call him Zav - is offering to take me to the elven homeland to meet my father and learn to harness the magic in my blood. Sure, I'm wary about his plans to force the elves to train me, but I need every advantage I can get. Especially when vampire attacks start cropping up all over Seattle, and my friend and business partner, Dimitri, disappears. Unfortunately, my training will have to wait. If I don't find my friend in time, I may never see him alive again.

Moving into a rundown Victorian house with a vampire living in the basement isn't as bad as I thought, but things go from weird to weirder when a badly injured gnome collapses in my back yard. The surprising part? It's my friend Nin's long-lost grandfather. Since he's unconscious, we can't figure out who's chasing him, or where he's been all these years, but if we can't help him, he'll die. To make matters worse, there's a new dragon in town. A female dragon. Everyone knows females are more dangerous than the males, and this one takes an instant dislike to me. It seems that she wants to date my mate, Zav, and has his mother's approval. If I can't avoid her wrath and find a way to cure the gnome, Nin's going to lose her grandfather, and I'm going to end up deader than the vampire in the basement.

After helping my steady dragon Zav with his family problems, I thought life would get back to normal. As normal as it can be when you're a hit woman responsible for hunting down bad guys. That was before a strange artifact showed up in a bog and turned my ancient dwarven sword into a magical beacon. Now my enemies can sense it from hundreds of miles away. More than that, every club-toting, over-muscled orc, ogre, and troll who would like a magic sword can sense it. Usually, fighting off opportunists wouldn't be a problem (they don't call me Ruin Bringer without reason), but even I can only handle so many attacks at a time. And Zav isn't as much help as you'd think, since he's busy on a quest for a ring. No, it's not a Lord of the Rings kind of quest. My boss put it in Zav's head that since we're mated in the dragon way, we should also be married in the human way. Now, he's off to find the perfect engagement ring. Given his taste in human footwear, I may be in trouble for more reasons than my marked sword. Not only is there no chance of my life getting back to normal any time soon, but if I can't figure out how to fix my sword, I'll be dead long before I can get married.

For ten years, I've been using a magical sword that I won in battle to ruthlessly slay enemies, break evil artifacts, and open stubborn pickle jars, but I don't know much about it. That's about to change. Thanks to the fact that I'm dating a powerful dragon, I can get a ride to the dwarven homeworld, and we're going to research the sword's roots. Not that I care much about its history, mind you, but several allies and enemies have suggested it can do a lot more than whack things. Considering the magical bad guys I fight are always stronger, faster, and more powerful than I am, I need every advantage I can get. There's just one problem: a half-dwarf thief has shown up and says she's the rightful heir to the sword. I want to believe it's a scam and can't possibly be true, but I didn't get the sword most legitimately. If I have to give it up, I might not be able to do my job anymore, and just as bad, I'll be a target for all the bad guys who have been waiting for an opportunity to take me down.

I'm Val Thorvald, tough butt-kicking assassin and soon-to-be wife of Lord Zavryd'nokquetal. He's a dragon from another world, and he's haughty, arrogant, and has horrible taste in footwear, but I love him. Our wedding is going to be amazing. At least... I'd like to think so. But when the coffee shop I'm a co-owner of gets bombed, our youngest employee goes missing, and the entire elven family I didn't know I had shows up for a visit, my wedding preparations take an alarming turn. Oh, and did I mention that Zav's clan is coming to the wedding? Dozens of dragons flying into the Seattle area. What could possibly go wrong?

As a freelance assassin, Val Thorvald leads a dangerous life. She's learned not to stay in the same place for long and not to get too attached to anything. For example, she would never consider adopting a pet. But when she's searching for a missing friend, she finds an abandoned silver tiger cub. The magical feline is clearly from another realm, but Val has no idea which one or how to send it back. All she knows is that it's the only witness to her friend's kidnapping. Val can kick the butts of ogres, trolls, and wizards, but she has no experience taking care of pets-certainly not magical tigers. And as she quickly learns, the cub has teeth like a chainsaw. Soon, everything from her apartment to her seat belts to the hair on her head is in danger. But if Val can't forge a bond with the cub, figure out what it knows, and find her missing friend, more than her belongings-and her hair-may be at risk. ~ Mist and Magic is a prequel to the Death Before Dragons series and can be read as a complete stand-alone adventure.