3 A.M. » ot4

8 - Prey to Predators

Luke smiled lightly as he saw Calum calm down from what he said. He was about to comment on it as well, but a sudden sense of purity overtook his thoughts.

"Do you sense that?" He instantly asked Calum who nodded in return.

"Luke? Calum?" The two heard, making Luke turn around to see Michael and Ashton standing together at the shore of the lake.

"Michael, angel." Luke felt so much relief finally seeing the angel, especially seeing him perfectly safe.

Michael smiled brightly as he rushed towards them with Ashton following slowly behind and Luke felt a rush of joy overtake him as he thought that Michael was rushing towards him.

But when Michael got to the two monsters instead of rushing into Luke's arms, Michael jumped into Calum's, wrapping his arms around his shoulders and tightly holding them together. Calum couldn't help but to wrap his own arms around the small angel, holding him back as he felt the worry for him fade away as he was here with him again.

Luke gritted his teeth as he saw his angel and the monster hold each other. But he forced himself to look away and to instead look at Ashton. For some reason Ashton was looking at the two with the same look that Luke had.

"So you had Michael?" He asked Ashton, kicking Ashton out of his angered trance.

"Yes." He answered simply, "When I sensed that you were here at the lake I thought it was a good idea to let you know that he's safe with me."

"Safe with you?" Calum asked as he gently pulled out of Michael's grasp, "He's already safe with me."

"You don't protect him all day like he needs to be. I do that for him." Ashton crossed his arms with determination taking over.

"3 A.M. is what he needs to worry about and I'm here in return."

"24 hours of protection is better than 1."

Luke and Michael just silently stood there as Ashton and Calum started to argue about their abilities to protect Michael, making Luke reference for Michael to come over to him, which he did.

"How's my angel doing?" He asked, placing his hand gently on his pale cheek just like he had did the night they had met. This time he didn't have blood to smear on the skin.

"I'm good, Luke. I've missed you."

"Oh and how much I've missed you." Luke breathed out, not believing that he was finally in the presence of the angel once again. He's been waiting for this and it's finally happening.

Michael naturally leaned into Luke's touch, smiling brightly up at the monster that seemed to be more of an angel towards him.

"You're so pretty." Luke sighed as he took in the beauty of Michael. Angels tended to be beautiful creatures, glowing with innocence and being surrounded by energy of natural positivity. But Michael was definitely the most beautiful angel that Luke has ever seen.

Taking in the sight of Michael, his eyes violently narrowed onto the pale arms that belonged to the angel. Reaching his hands down to delicately grab Michael's wrists, he brought the wounds up to analyze.

Michael felt uncomfortable as Luke kept peering at the cuts, making him slowly pull his arms out of the monster's grip to instead put behind his back.

Michael felt utterly used and disgusted at the fact that the two monsters took his blood, and he didn't want anymore reminder or discussion on the matter. The cuts still hurt to begin with. But Luke could only see red.

"You're actually doing it aren't you?" Luke asked angrily as he stomped towards Calum, pushing the monster back with a sharp push.

Calum easily recovered and glared at the blonde monster, already feeling riled up with the fact that Ashton thought that he was unable to properly protect the angel in discussion.

"You're actually taking his blood?" Luke glared dangerously at the other monster, feeling complete rage fill him up at the thought of Michael being constantly used as a blood source for Calum.

Calum narrowed his eyes in confusion and anger at the blonde one, trying to understand why Luke was so mad about Michael's injuries. When he first saw them he felt bad for the angel. But Luke seemed to be completely off of the rails.

Ashton watched with an entertained smirk, loving all of the chaos that's being created among the group with an angel at the center of all of it.

Instead, Michael stood to the side watching all of this unfold. He didn't understand what Luke was talking about.

"I'm not taking his blood. I haven't tasted his blood once." Calum easily answered, glaring at Luke.

"Sure." Luke scoffed, "So those cuts are just there for no reason?"

"I didn't make those cuts."

"Cut the bullshit, Calum. The only reason why you agreed to protecting Michael for me was because I promised you that I'd let you take his blood."

Michael's heart instantly broke as he heard this come out of Luke's mouth, making his eyes snap onto Calum in a search for answers. But the brunette monster was too engrossed in his argument with Luke that he didn't notice the hurt look on Michael.

"You offered it so easily, like you didn't care one bit about Michael. I never said that I was going to take his blood."

"I do care about Michael." Luke narrowed his eyes even more dangerously, "His blood isn't something to take selfishly."

"Really?" Calum scoffed, "You were the one to tell me that you only wanted Michael safe so you can use him for his blood."

Michael snapped his hurt stare from Calum onto Luke, not believing any of this.

"Really, Luke?" Ashton interfered the argument, making the two monsters snap their attentions on him as he glared at the blonde.

"Don't 'really' me." Luke rolled his eyes, "You promised me that you were going to find Michael and throw him around like some blood bag to all of your demon friends."

Michael was now on the verge of tears. Just a minute ago he trusted Calum, he wished that he could trust Luke, and he was on the verge of trusting Ashton. And none of it was true.

He was so so stupid. How could he think that a demon and two monsters actually cared about him? How could he think that they were good and nice instead of evil? How could he ever think that he would be more than a blood source for the three? Michael wanted to be a friend, but all he really was, was prey to predators.

He didn't belong on Earth as a castaway angel, but with the three there Michael felt like he could make it work. That maybe it was a place where he could have someone there for him, somewhere that he could be safe and protected.

But he was so utterly wrong. He needed to start looking out for himself. He couldn't rely on anymore monsters or demons because they all only wanted to use him.

Even the ones he truly, really thought that he could trust were only dangerously using him.

—•••—

Poor Michael. What a weak little angel.  
:(

What do you think about the argument currently taking place? What's Michael's reaction going to be towards them? 🥴

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