I have been told that not everyone who reads this story knows what a Carpathian is so…for those of you that have read the Carpathian novels, you don't have to read this unless you want to make fun of the way I explain it. If you do, I don't blame you, I would too.
Anyway, (pardon my American spelling/language for all you English (no offense meant)) basically a Carpathian is a vampire with a soul (he drinks blood but doesn't kill his victims), but a Vampire is a Carpathian without a soul (drinks blood, kills victim, and basically is you standard sociopath serial killer).
Carpathian males have one woman in the entire world that is their soulmate (aka lifemate as they like to call it). If they don't find their lifemate before their will power runs out they turn Vampire. And if they turn Vampire and then meet their lifemate, they are up a certain creek without a paddle (if you don't believe me go back and read Dark Destiny).
If the lifemate happens to be a Carpathian, they don't have to worry about the painful procedure called "converting". Plus, women can't go vampire (dance around and sing).
The lifemate is the light to their males darkness (balance in the universe and all that), so if the woman doesn't like it, she is up a certain creek without a paddle (or a boat for that matter).
If the lifemate happens to be human, they have to have two requirements 1) have some kind of psychic powers and 2) be female (duh…). They have to have psychic powers because if they don't…well it isn't pretty. Basically they go nuts. In that case you have sociopath absolutely crazy vampiress. Only way to get a female vampire and they don't live very long. The converting procedure is incredibly painful and the female's lifemate usually takes some her pain as his own (all go 'awwww') or knocks them out (with their mind not their fists). The only reasons this was not the case is when the lifemate could not be there in the first place (Dark Destiny) or the lifemate was crazy and had no clue what was going on (Dark Desire). Though I must say that Dark Destiny is a special case, because Destiny (main character) was converted by a vampire when she was what? 5/6 years old…needless to say that her lifemate wasn't there. Sort of…well anyway, to unconfuse yourself (no doubt I am not helpful) read any of the Carpathian novels by Christine Feehan. The Carpathians all have two word titles that start with 'Dark' don't know why, ask Feehan. She also has Lair of the Lion, The Scarlotti Curse (sp?), and Wild Rain (which deals in another race entirely of leopard people, most of them male and all of them extremely handsome).
Anyway, male Carpathians have this thing called a 'beast' living in their head. Metaphysically speaking. The more they kill things the harder it is to keep the beast on a leash (poet and don't know it), but since they have overactive protective streaks, they hunt and kill the vampires anyway, making it easier for the beast to get loose which in turn makes them kill while they feed which in turn makes them into a vampire. Told you I would confuse you really good. Don't worry the first time I heard it I had to use my teacher's dry erase board to get it straight.
Oh! The nature of being a Carpathian means that you live for a very long time, but for males, that means somewhere in there you loose color and emotion. You can't even feel hunger, and all you see is black, white and shades of gray. Bummer huh? The way a male Carpathian knows it is his lifemate is (usually when he hears her voice for some reason or drinks their blood) that he gains back his emotions and color. Of course since he is a great deal more than human, they are more intense, and he gets a protective streak a mile long for a certain woman…
And, all Carpathians have all of the psycic powers available. Literally. From controling the weather to becoming the weather. The older they are the more power at their disposal.Eventually, everyone lives happily ever after. What am I missing? I think that is it, but who knows? And no, I haven't read the latest Carpathian (Dark Secret), so for all I know I will be fiddling with characters that already have a lifemate. Oh, well. Okay, I will quit rambling now. Hope this helped.