Soulmates. The one and only true love for you. Some people never find theirs but in the Night World where love is scary and the soulmate principle pops up when you least expect it, well hell its terrifying. In the article I'm going to compare and evaluate the different experiences and reactions.
    First there are three basic types of soulmate experiences. Rule (1) An extended relationship with your soulmate before you find out you two are soulmates. The second rule is Rule (2) When your soulmate is a perfect stranger to you. And the last Rule (3) When you are soulmates with someone and you don't want to be. All show up in the Night World and sometimes more than one. Now  the soulmate bond shows itself in many different ways. You have electric shocks, pink hazes and then the merging of minds. The feelings can be a little weird or unpleasant and at worst downright horrifying. Now I'm going to go through each book in the series and we'll take a look at each pair of soulmates.
    First, Secret Vampire's James Rasmussen and Poppy North. Clearly this is an example of Rule 1, the first type because they grew up together. To begin with the focus is just on love and James (being the Night Person he knows the soulmate principle, Poppy doesn't) doesn't pay much attention to the signs. Which is understandable considering the situation with Poppy's cancer .. So it is not until after Poppy is a vampire that James sits her down and actually explains the soulmate principle. This is probably one of the most desirable ways of finding your soulmate since Poppy and James were friends for years before the word soulmate or love was even mentioned. This is also
our first exposure to the soulmate principle and it paints a very nice picture. Later on we find out more about how unsettling the soulmate bond is.
    Now on to Daughter's of Darkness. The two characters being Ash Redfern and Mary-Lynnette Carter. The way Mary-Lynnette and Ash become aware of their connection is arguably the most unnerving way to find your soulmate. Not only are you perfect strangers (Rule 2) but you also have a very scary and vivid connection. Their particular bond manifests itself through electric jolts, the pink haze and the trembly feelings. All of which are unpleasant and shocking for both of our characters though of course only Ash has the knowledge of what it was. But we can't forget Mary-Lynnette who had some pretty strong reactions. Personally I think she handled it all pretty well. Then again there WAS her brief period of uncontrollable foot spasms. Anyway, Mary-Lynnette and Ash spent time in denial land but its kind of hard even for them to deny it with such strong signs. They are our first examples of Rules 2 and 3. All in all Mary-Lynnette coped pretty well with it excluding the foot spasms and throat poking incident, though most of us wouldn't have sent Ash away...
    On to Spellbinder's (Or Enchantress if you live in the UK) Thea Harman and Eric Ross. This time we have a female Night Person and a male human. Well, Thea and Eric realize their bond in a gentler version of experience Ash and Mary-Lynnette had. Perfect strangers but the indicators aren't as
frightening. Once again, direct touch produces the intense feelings and the sense of a connection that we come to expect with soulmates. But only Thea goes into major denial (the Night World law saying she has to die and all). Eric on the other hand has no knowledge of the Night World laws and exhibits extreme dopey love on Thea. And with the situation with Blaise, Thea is forced to be close to Eric and she realizes they're soulmates early on. Then throw in the complications: Suzanne is loose, Blaise is  trying to steal Eric, Grandma Harman is sick. But Thea does the same thing Poppy did: She gave up everything. Or she would have except for Blaise with the iced tea in the Cup of Lethe. But the point was she would give up everything and though some might say it was easier for Poppy because the alternative was death but it was for Thea too (Night World law this time) so she deserves some respect for that. Thea and Eric's romance shows us the softer side of the Rule (2) experience.
    Next comes Gillian Lennox and David Blackburn from Dark Angel. This account of the soulmate principle is quite different from the others. One reason is that Gillian is a lost witch and he only link to the Night World is her pyscho,obssessed witch cousin Angel who happens to be dead.  So Gillian has no idea she is breaking Night World law to fall in love with David so for once there is no denial factor. Another difference is Gillian and David got to know each other before Gillian was aware she wasn't totally human, that factor tends to put a strain on the relationship. It did get weird for a while with Angel, Gillian's spells and her first Night World experience. But in the end Gillian and David have the easiest soulmates experience.
    It's time to study The Chosen's Rashel Jordan (the Cat) and John Quinn. They also have the Rule (2) and Rule (3) experience. And of course Night World law comes in and forces the issue of not wanting the soulmates deal, not like it really matters though. And bare skin like Thea and Eric or Ash and Mary-Lynnette shows us electric current feelings. But this is the first time the two minds actually merge like they haven't before. The Old Powers behind the soulmate principle seem to open a direct link for these two. The blood exchange or would-be exchange does the same as it did for Mary-Lynnette and Ash, it throws the human into the vampire mind but with Ash, Mary-Lynnette more or less could only see and sense not be there in his mind like Rashel. Right after Quinn explains the soulmate theory some more, they fight and run off to Circle Daybreak. But lets not forget they did spend a good deal of time kicking each other's asses. Rashel tried to kill him at least twice and Quinn forcibly tried to change her. Not a match made in heaven folks.
    Soulmate's Hannah Snow and Thierry Descouedres are a prime example of what the soulmate principle is all about. In the beginning as Theorn and Hana, they see they are connected but don't realize exactly what it means until Hana is dying in his arms. But with the flashback regressions, Hannah confronts Thierry is this time pretty much knowing they are soulmates. Theirs is a difficult story to tell because the rules really don't apply. Yes, in the very beginning, Theorn and Hana were perfect strangers but in this life they weren't' and they did sort of know each other but they didn't
grow up together like Poppy and James. The bond is more clear and strengthened through the ages though they never got to get together as true soulmates before. The whole trouble is Maya. BUT once Maya is dead, Hannah and Thierry can be together. Because of all the problems with Maya and her illusions (the pencil through the hand people!) it would stand to reason Hannah would still have some minor problems with trusting Thierry but it just goes to show you how powerful the soulmate bond is. Theirs was a peaceful but troubled relationship.
    Now one of the more warrior-like soulmate pairs; soulmates Jez Redfern and Morgead Blackthorn from The Huntress. The soulmate connection for them it is partial Rule (1); like Poppy and James they grew up together Morgead and Jez probably spent more time breaking CDs over each other's heads than listening to them. Jez is denial sort of to begin with but Morgead knows.
This go around in the Night World law doesn't play any big role except that Jez shouldn't exist. This is the first time we encounter a Wild Power soulmate and that ups the danger factor. Jez entertains the popular method of denial but then she accepts it with a calm resignation that Morgead would
kill her because of her tainted blood. And that is another prime example of the soulmate bond, that Morgead would not care and their bond actually allowed Jez to come back from the death. The silver cord is a visible representation of the bond itself.
   Black Dawn's Delos Redfern and Maggie Neely are next in the series. As before this is a experience of Rule (2) and (3). Especially with the Night World AND the Dark Kingdom law that try to keep them apart. Delos comes to the same conclusion as Quinn in the Chosen, change his soulmate. But he never bites Maggie and it only takes a kiss to throw the into Delos's mind. Delos does a total 180 in personality as Maggie helps him discover his true self. And the time travel dream he send to the past Maggie is example of how much he loves her. Except she wouldn't meet him and that was okay as long as she wasn't in danger. That shows a lot about Delos's love for her. It might
have had something to do with his Wild Powers status but I think we all know what was behind it (HINT: Soulmate Principle and the Old Powers!). Maggie and Delos's relationship is a moderate one, not many physical blows and some scary feelings but nothing to earth-shattering in comparison to some previous connections.
    Here to another of the mismatched soulmates, Raksha Keller and Galen Drache. From Witchlight,these two are in the extreme difference zone. Galen in the golden idealistic boy ( probably a mama's boy too) and I know some people consider him the weakest and girliest of the NW men. But I disagree. Galen is honest sheltered loving guy. Keller on other hand  has seen the worst parts of life and refuses to let herself love. Then comes the plot twist of Galen being promised to the Witch Child, Illiana. And then throw in some more complications for fun( Hey if it was simple we wouldn't love these books so much.) the Dragon, Illiana's denial of being Wild Power etc. All serves to distract Keller and Galen. But the soulmate connection always comes through and with Illiana's help, they end up together.
   And it seems to me that it doesn't matter at all if you don't WANT to be soulmates, and taking a quote from Ash in DOD when Ash realizes Mary-Lynnette is his soulmate he thinks, "Just sit back and let fate ride him over like an eighteen wheeler?" Ash sums it up quite nicely. The bond and the connection is more powerful than the two it effects is the big picture. And now let's just dabble in the anecdotes the various Night World characters use for being soulmates starting with James and Poppy's sweet "You love them because they sing a song that nobody but you can understand." I think that is a very good example of being soulmates except with the mismatched pairs it may not always seem so. And Mary-Lynnette gives a textbook line (literally the physics textbook) on what being soulmates is like for the opposite type soulmates, "The attraction of particle to antiparticle." Thea from Spellbinder (Enchantress for those of you in the UK) just puts the normal assumption in words," Your one and only." Which is very true and very simple. Dark Angel doesn't really shed any extra light on the mysterious and ageless topic of soulmates. And then in The Chosen, Quinn say something's that only represents the soulmates who stay together but it shows again what it means to be soulmates, " We live or die together now on." A very noble idea. Now to the so titled book Soulmate that gives us lots of little examples what the soulmate bond is like. Hannah mostly tells us them like the ones during her rant at Thierry in her backyard. "You're the part of my I always vaguely missed. You were supposed to be around, helping out, picking me up when I fell down. Watching my back, listening to my stories. Understanding things I wouldn't want to tell other people. Loving me when I'm stupid. Giving me something to take care of and be good to, the way the Goddess meant for women to do. You were my flying companion. My playmate. You were my other half of the mysteries of life. We were supposed to be sacred to each other-" And that whole thing puts it out on the table. exactly what being soulmates means. "We're destined for each other. We were supposed to be together down the ages." Hannah adds and though I'm not sure who believes in reincarnation and whose doesn't that always what I think of when I think of what it means to be soulmates. And Thierry as Theorn as Hana dies gives another perfect example, "They'd been born FOR each other, to help each other grow and blossom and discover and evolve." And whether reincarnation is real or not that is what soulmates do I think. The last two books just give us more examples of soulmate experiences and the power of the bond. But I think we all dream about finding our soulmate and what it will be like sparks, haze, sweet connections, who knows but the Old Powers are rising. The millenium is approaching, and soulmates are being found.