"Talk to me, Father. Distract me. Tell me what you can about the Carpathian race." She was very weak, but did not want to draw the priest's attention to it. "I'll keep my voice low just to be safe," Edgar said, close to her ear. "Mikhail will come, you know. He would never leave us here." He rubbed his hands up and down her arms to try to bring heat to her laboring body. "The males are aggressive in nature, territorial, yet protective to the extreme. They consider themselves but half of a whole. That half is comprised of all the potential for evil and violence. They are supreme hunters, perfect killing machines." "Father." She gasped a protest. Edgar Hummer smiled in the darkness, aware she could see him perfectly. "This is not entirely my own description. Because of the longevity of their lives, they amass great fortunes, are extremely intellectual, and are able to recount history with a flair for facts, dates, and precise details because, of course, they've lived through those times. They are very good at using mind control when needed to allow them to continue their existence in secrecy. Unfortunately, they cannot survive forever without their other half. The light of their woman keeps them from darkness. She is their one hope to avoid an eternity of being alone, or turning vampire and being loathed and hunted by their own kind. She stands between them and eternal damnation." "They must find their lifemate as Mikhail found me." There was satisfaction in knowing she had relieved that terrible burden for Mikhail. "He has told me that you are his true lifemate--his other half. Without you, he would become the vampire of legends, a monster without equal to the human race."