Dirk & Steele

He looks out of place in Dela Reese's Beijing hotel room- exotic and poignant, some mythic, tragic hero of an epic tale. With his feline yellow eyes, he's like nothing from her world. Yet Dela has danced through the echo of his soul and knows this warrior will obey her every command. Hari has been used and abused for millennia. But he sees, upon his release from the riddle box, that this new mistress is different. There is a hidden power in Dela's eyes- and with her, he may regain all that was lost to him. Where once he savaged, now he must protect; where once he only knew hatred, now he must embrace love. Dela is the key. For Dela, he will risk all.

Elena Baxter can work miracles with her hands. She can coax bones to knit, flesh to heal. She can mend the mind. She has been doing such work for almost all of her twenty-eight years. That is why she will be taken. The media called it a rampage of terror, the recent murders. But fighting crime is why Artur Loginov joined Dirk & Steele. The international detective agency specializes in the impossible, and their creed is simple: Help those in need, no matter how difficult, and no matter what, keep the secret safe. For the agency helps its employees, too: people like Artur- the gifted, the tormented. Dirk & Steele gave the Russian emigre purpose, protection, community... and refuge from his past, for who can trust a man who can start a fire with his mind, or shape-shift, or read others' thoughts as easily as drawing breath? For his similar talent, Artur will be taken. Into the darkness Elena and Artur will be drawn, into the clutches of evil. Cornered, isolated, caged, they will fight for their very souls. But salvation awaits. It exists in a form least expected: a dream of a face, a brush of a mind, the hint of a kiss, and finally, at long last a shadow touch.

Imagine a world where magic rubs elbows with science, where men and women with supernatural powers secretly risk their lives to help others. It is a world where one right turn can deliver a mystery that will change your life forever, a world of shape-shifters, immortal magicians, criminal underworlds run by powerful psychics -- intrigue, mystery, and romance. The saga continues in THE RED HEART OF JADE as Dean Campbell -- clairvoyant, dangerous, and irreverent -- finds himself hot on the trail of a murderer who is part of an ancient hunt for power, a hunt that has only one outcome: death or destruction. And at the heart of that hunt -- both prize and mystery -- is a women who died in Dean's arms twenty years earlier: Mirabelle Lee, childhood sweetheart and the love of his life. Together, alive and reunited, Dean and Miri are forced to rely on each other -- and the strength of their enduring love -- as they race to unravel the mystery that threatens not only their lives, but the entire world.

Previously published in the print anthology Dark Dreamers. There are those who do terrible things in this world, and others who simply watch. As a gargoyle, sworn to protect the weak, Charlie can do neither. He has been imprisoned by a witch, and his only release will come at his own destruction-or through the help of clairvoyant Aggie Durand. Sweet as a kiss, she is the one dream he does not dare desire-and yet, she might be his soul's salvation.

Dirk & Steele had a creed: Protect the innocent in secrecy. No member of the Agency was "normal." Each was an outcast, a pariah, a beneficent shadow living under the sun but rarely in its warmth. "Blue" Perrineau was no different. And now, when it was clear that darker shadows existed in the world- people who followed no rule under heaven- every secret was a liability. Blue would soon see. They came from all over the world to observe Iris's lithe, catlike body and her affinity for wild creatures. But beyond the celebrity of the Las Vegas footlights, a blackness grew. All eyes were upon her, seeking, judging... coveting. But one gaze was that of a savior, a man of electricity and mystery- a mystery as deep and convoluted as her own. And together, they might yet see the dawn.

Against her will, Kitala Bell foresees the future. Now her own future is in peril. From the ocean's depths rises an impossible blend of fantasy and danger, a creature whose voice is seduction incarnate, whose song can manipulate lives the way that Kitala herself manipulates the strings of her violin -- even to the point of breaking. He is a prince of the sea, an enigma -- a captive stretched to the limit of his endurance by a woman intent on using him for the purest evil. And when survival requires he and Kitala form a closer partnership than either has ever known, the price of their bond will threaten not just their lives, but the essence of their very souls.

Doctor Rikki Kinn is one of the world's best virus hunters. It's for that reason she's in the Congo, working for the CDC. But when mercenaries attempt to take her life to prevent her from investigating a new and deadly plague, her boss calls in a favor from an old friend- the only one who can help. Africa- a land of lush veldts and roaring falls, untamed splendor and primal fury: Amiri's home, where he was raised to race as a cheetah, to wake with the sun. It is also a land of lingering nightmare, where he was kidnapped and experimented upon by the evil group named the Consortium. Now, against his better judgement, Amiri has been asked to return to his homeland by his colleagues in Dirk & Steele- men who are friends and brothers, who like himself are more than human. He must protect a woman who is the target of murderers, who has unwittingly involved herself in a conflict that threatens not only the lives of millions, but Amiri's own soul... and his heart.

A woman wakes in a strange room, covered in blood, surrounded by the dead. She does not know who she is. Pinned on her jacket is a crumpled note. Run, it reads. Lannes Hannelore is one of a dying race born to protect mankind against demonic forces. And while those who look upon him see a beautiful man, this illusion is nothing but a prison. His existence is one of pure isolation, hiding in plain sight, with brief solace found in simple pleasures: stretching his wings on a stormy night, long late drives on empty highways, the deep soul of sad songs. But when Lannes finds a young woman covered in blood- desperate and alone, with no memory or past- he will be drawn into a mystery that makes him questions all he knows. And though it goes against his natures and everything he fears, Lannes will risk his heart, his secrets, and his very soul in order to save someone who could be the love of his life... or the end of it.

Long ago, shape-shifters were plentiful, soaring through the sky as crows, racing across African veldts as cheetahs, raging furious as dragons atop the Himalayas. Like gods, they reigned supreme. But even gods have laws, and those laws, when broken, destroy. Zoufalství. Epätoivo. Asa. Three words in three very different languages, and yet Soria understands. Like all members of Dirk & Steele, she has a gift, and hers is communication: That was why she was chosen to address the stranger. Strong as a lion, quick as a serpent, Karr is his name, and in his day he was King. But he is a son of strife; a creature of tragedy. As fire consumed all he loved, so an icy sleep has been his atonement. Now against his will, he has awoken. Zoufalství. Epätoivo. Asa. In English, the word is despair. But Soria knows the words for love.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Marjorie M. Liu has captivated readers with her remarkable Dirk and Steele novels, proving herself to be one of today's most brilliantly imaginative creators of paranormal romance. Lui reaches new heights with In the Dark of Dreams, the breathtakingly sensual story of a young woman's passionate reunion with a magnificent man from the sea-and the dark mission that binds them both.

From bestselling author Marjorie M. Liu, here comes an exciting new installment to her award winning "Dirk and Steele" series in which high stakes and sizzling passion keep readers riveted. Joining the Dirk and Steele Agency turned Eddie's life around. A pyrokinetic and former car thief, he cannot refuse an assignment to cross the continent in order to rescue an extraordinary woman in peril...even though he fears losing control of the destructive power of flame at his fingertips. The last of her shape-shifting kind, Lyssa hides in the abandoned tunnels beneath Manhattan, seeking refuge from those who murdered her family a decade ago and would now destroy her as well. Like Eddie, fire is her weapon, her destiny... and her curse. Yet she wants nothing to do with this mesmerizing stranger who seeks her trust while inflaming her passion. For beneath Lyssa's extraordinary beauty are dangerous secrets... and even darker, nearly irresistible urges. But she has won the heart of a fearless protector... and all the demons in the world will not make him back down.