Night of Nyx (The Nightfall Chronicles 2.5) Read Online Free PDF

is not your time."
    Zorin crawls over to the deer. It looks at him without fear, only pain and misery.
    "I will make this quick, friend." He snaps the deer's neck, putting it out of its misery—and then he feeds.
    As the blood pours into him, he feels his body mend and repair, his strength return, his vision grow clearer. He is not done yet.
    Nightfall needs him.

CHAPTER 6
     
     
     
     
     
    Zorin lands on a stone path amongst a field of dark green, his feet making no noise as they touch down. The deer’s blood helped rejuvenate his body, but he is still wounded. He needs to rest before he can make it back to the Cathedral. He walks in the dark, waiting for sunset, waiting for his body to finish its healing. The world around him hums with the soft sounds of night insects and animals finishing up their nocturnal routines before the rise of the sun. The cusp of a new dawn was Danika's favorite time of day. When old and new meet and share stories, she would say.
    He exhales heavily and turns right, onto a path that takes him through a church garden. A cluster of tall sculpted angels tower over him, their wings spread wide, their faces fierce as they hold their swords high. The scene surprises him, and he places a hand against one of the marble statues.
    "They are beautiful, are they not?"
    Zorin turns quickly toward the voice. A priest stands there, his hands clasped before him. He's an older man, white hair haloing a face etched by time. But his eyes are sharp, bright, clever.
    "I apologize if I have intruded in your space," Zorin says, surprised he didn't hear the priest approach.
    "Not at all. This is a space for anyone who needs it. You seem troubled, my son."
    "Lost in thought. It's been a night of…"
    "Conflict?" the priest suggests.
    Zorin nods. "Conflict."
    "What, may I ask, are you conflicted about?"
    "The usual, I suppose. Good versus evil. Right versus wrong."
    The priest chuckles. "The simple questions. Of course."
    Zorin looks up at the angels again. "It is rare to see an angel these days."
    The priest raises an eyebrow. "Perhaps not as rare as all that, as it were. Times are changing again, are they not?"
    Zorin studies the priest more closely. "Is this your church?"
    "No, I am here but for a visit. My church is much larger." The priest looks at Zorin or, rather, into Zorin. "I go where I am needed. Tonight, I was needed here, it would seem."
    Zorin smirks, sarcasm on his tongue. “Doing the work of his Holiness, Pope Icarus?”
    "I do not follow him," the priest says simply.
    Zorin pauses. He did not expect such words from a priest. "Icarus does not have the best interest of humans or Zeniths at heart," says Zorin. His own honesty surprises him.
    "You sound as if you know him well."
    "I know his type," Zorin says.
    The priest sighs. “Icarus is not the hero we need. But, what of Nightfall?”
    Zorin freezes. “What of her?”
    “Is she the one we need? The Nephilim may be part Angel, but they are also part human. They are the bridge between the worlds and, I suspect, she has the best of both in her heart, and the worst.” He stares into Zorin’s eyes. “Beware setting up false gods, Zorin, even if only to take down devils.”
    His name. How did he know his name?
    Zorin steps back, his hand calling forth his sword, which shimmers from the darkness into steel and magic, solid in his palm. "Who are you?"
    The priest smiles, holding his hand up. "Rest assured, I am not your enemy. As to who I am—well, aren't we all trying to figure that bit out? "
    He must be a Zenith. With some ability to see into his mind, or perhaps to see things from afar.
    The priest chuckles. "You are not the only one with power, Zorin. And you are not the only one struggling to know the right course of action."
    Zorin raises an eyebrow and lets his sword disappear, but keeps his distance. "How do you know I am struggling?"
    "Because we are all struggling. Whether human, Nephilim, Angel, Zenith or other."
    "I know the right course