To Overthrow the Guardians

Chapter 24: More Targets

Mallory finished a transformation back into his normal human self in front of his bathroom mirror. He was getting rather good at shapeshifting since he didn't have to break to sleep, eat, drink, or anything else like that. He did have to breathe, though.

"We have an assignment for you before you before you head off to help kill the Guardians," the voices said.

"What is it?" Mallory asked.

"We need you to kill Matthew Sloan."

It felt like the floor had fallen out from beneath Mallory. Kill one of the people who had been so kind as to hire him and get him out of the rut he had been in? Matt had never hurt anyone!

"Why?"

"He endangers your children, as well as many others. If you don't kill him, those people will die."

Mallory's chest clenched up, tightening into a ball of wire. Was it just him, or were these assignments getting worse? First kill Pitch, then kill the Guardians, and now kill Matt? Why was everyone endangering his kids?

"If you don't do it, their deaths will be on your hands. You will forever know that you could have done something to stop it but didn't."

"Why can't you make someone else do it?" Mallory asked.

"Because you have power that others don't. You can shapeshift, and you have the ability to do what needs to be done."

Mallory's limbs felt heavy with a bad feeling. Or maybe it was the lack of sleep and nutrients creeping up on him, if he even needed to sleep, eat, or drink at all anymore.

"If I must." In his head, he saw Matt's eyes wide with fear like they had been when he was trying to cure Fearling-Haven. The poor kid. No, he wasn't a poor little thing now. If he was going to endanger people, then he wasn't innocent.

Mallory went outside and got in his car. The sky was beginning to darken for the night, and clouds were blowing over to cover the sun and moon. It would be a good night for messing with the Guardians' belief.

The blond man drove to the headquarters, parked his car, and got out. He couldn't go into the building, so he would have to wait until Matt came outside. Crouching down by the front doors, he commanded Fearlings and Nightmares to come to the area with a wave of his hand. They were coming, he could sense. He had never been able to sense such a thing before, but somehow, he could now. It was a new ability that he could take advantage of.

Mallory then decided that it would be easier on Matt if he didn't see his friend killing him. He shifted into his darker form, the one with the gray hair and dull eyes. However, he shifted his clothes as well- into a dark gray dress shirt, pants, shoes, and a thin cloak made of dark mist that nearly reached the ground. He didn't know why he did this, but it just felt right to him, so he kept it. Besides, it didn't make him feel hot at all, the cloth cool against his skin.

He froze when he heard a voice. The Fearlings and Nightmares weren't here yet!

"I don't know where she went," Fiona was saying. "She just said that she was going to be right back, but she never returned."

"But Haven has to be around here somewhere." It sounded like Matt's vocal cords were pulled taut. "Unless she's become completely corrupted and left without saying goodbye."

"We'll find her, Matt," Duran said. Then, "we'll be careful, Whisper. We'll keep an eye out for them."

The door opened, and the group walked out away from the door. Matt was not alone. And yet, something within Mallory, not the voices but something deeper, told him to kill them all.