Page 32 of Sevan

Chapter Sixteen

“Jordan, do you read?” Sevan repeated into his headset. “Damn thing isn’t working.”

“It’s not your equipment, it’s the others. They can jam electronics. That’s why Jacquelyn could only reach so far to find Lorelei. They make it almost impossible for her signal to come through. Every now and then she gets the best of them, but it doesn’t happen too often,” Nina said, her back to him.

“Can I ask you something?”

“You want to know who the others are,” Nina said, stopping on the worn path. “You don’t seem to believe what Christian and I have already told you.”

“Yeah.”

“We spoke the truth, Captain. The others are your world’s nightmare creatures. The ones you gathered up and shipped away. They are what happened when they touched down here. When they came into contact with our planet.”

Sevan’s eyes bulged as he thought back to all he knew about Project Exorcism. It had been called that due to the nature of the cargo being gathered and shipped out—vampires, werewolves, witches, anything that wasn’t human was forced into hiding, killed, or placed on containment ships.

A deal had been struck with the paranormal leaders, allowing them to pick the planet they would relocate to. Five ships were loaded to capacity, only one arrived at the destination. The other ships were thought to have perished in the meteorite shower that occurred shortly after takeoff. No one had heard from the ships since they’d departed all those years ago, each carrying nearly a hundred military personnel, several top-notch scientists and doctors, along with several thousand supernatural creatures.

“How many of them survived?”

Nina laughed. “I couldn’t honestly tell you. It was our grandparents who were directly involved in the great coming.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “From the stories and the records, the crash happened at dusk. From all accounts, the human crew had come under attack from a select number of supernaturals who were not pleased with the idea of being cargo sent out into space. I know that many lost their lives directly after the crash, but some were spared by the intervention of the natives who were here, along with the aid of those supernaturals who didn’t believe death should come to all humans.”

She slowed her pace a bit and glanced back at him. “Christian’s family was the head family, similar to a royal family. The head of the supernatural rebellion overthrew them almost immediately. That was no small feat. The people, my people, the Shamenians, who have lived on this planet since the dawn of time, are not as normal as the humans who’d come here with the ship. We have abilities that supersede your kind. I believe, as do many of our scientists, that we were all one once, long ago, but that we separated somehow, spreading out over six different galaxies. I also believe that the environments we inhabited pre-determined our evolution from there. This would explain why, by all outward appearances, we are the same as the humans.

“I believe in many ways we are similar to,” she seemed to search for the right words, “the magical ones. I’m sorry I do not know your history as well as I should. Lorelei is better at this than I am. We were all educated in your ways and customs growing up. There are still a select few pure humans here, but almost all are forced to live within the safety of the compound walls for fear of being slaughtered by the others.”

An exasperated breath fell free of her. “Not all of the others are evil. Many have villages, children, education facilities, the works, set up throughout these lands, but even those places are not safe for straight humans. The others have taken to attacking their own kind if they believe them to be sympathizers with the day creatures. That’s what they call us, you know. They can’t very well call us human. We’re not all the same, so they came up with that. Though, Stegian, the leader of one of the largest packs of the others, refers to us as Shamenians. Why he seems to be the only one who understands is not a question I require an answer to.”

“I get the sense that you’re holding back on me,” Sevan said, watching Nina carefully.

“I am. The Janelles carry the gene of a werepanther in us. Our grandmother fell in love with one of the werepanthers upon their arrival, and together they had a child, our father. My grandfather was killed by his own kind for loving a local, a day creature. My grandmother was forced to marry her original chosen mate, and he aided in the raising of my father. This was much to the disliking of the community, but necessary all the same. My grandmother’s second husband was the only grandfather we knew. He treated us well enough while he was alive. Though I do not think he liked my father much.”

“Where’s your father now?”

“Dead.”

“I’m sorry.”

Nina stopped walking and gave him a serious look. “Don’t be. Lorelei killed him, and I helped her.”

“Why the hell would you kill your own father?”

“You’ve seen Jacquelyn.”

The realization of what she was saying sank in, and he felt sick to his stomach. Heat flared through him, and he had to stop a moment to keep from vomiting. “What kind of sick bastard does that to his own daughter?”

“The kind that is being controlled by Stegian while in full shifted form.”

“Nina?” A small voice called out from the darkness.

Nina froze, and Sevan followed suit. She tipped her head to the side and seemed to sniff the air.

“Nina?” The voice spoke again. It sounded a hell of a lot like Lorelei to him, so he started in the direction the voice was coming from.

“No,” Nina said, slamming her hand back into his chest. The wind was knocked out of him and he was left coughing to regain control of himself. She packed a hell of a punch, that much was clear.

“Stegian has used tricks to lure us into traps before, and he’s famous for mimicking our voices. It’s how he lured Jacquelyn away so easily. He used my voice to call her to him, and then he—”

“Nina?” The voice was there again, this time weaker sounding than before. There was a shuffle in the brush off to their left, and they swung around with weapons drawn.

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