COSMIC LOVE
written by Ashley Griffin (aka: randomxash)

CHAPTER ONE – LUKA

I was told when I was a kid, that someday I would grow up and there would be a chosen one. A girl, who would come into my sight of vision and would need protecting. My father told me this story when I was seven years old and then again when I was fifteen and already in training mode to protect myself at all costs.

When I was eighteen, my mother's best friend came to me. Her name is Stella Mae Calamia-Hayes. She wanted me to protect her daughter, when she turned the age of eighteen.

"Why me?" I asked Stella, staring into her blue eyes, watching her fidget with her long brown hair. She glanced into my brown dull eyes and took a deep breath.

"My daughter, she is very powerful. She doesn't know it yet, Luka, and I'm afraid when she finds these powers out for herself, she won't know what to do." She spoke to me, using my birth name. I didn't like to be called Luka, only by my family, but I've known Stella all my life, so I let it slide.

"And what am I supposed to do, babysit her until she learns how to use her powers right?" I asked, being a smart-ass. My mother, who was sitting right next to Stella, stared at me hard with her green eyes, hatred in them for speaking to her best friend like that.

"Basically, yes. Luka, Mitchel is in deep with some heavy stuff and I'm afraid that something is going to go wrong and it will come back and bite us in the ass." She told me. I looked at her soft features on her face, her skin a soft pale color, but not to pale like you stayed in the house all your life. She had fear in her eyes and she was afraid for not only her daughter, but for herself.

She said Mitchel was in some deep stuff, but why? Mitchel is Stella's husband and he's a very rich and powerful man, who I believe is dealing in with the wrong people and it's going to get very bad soon.

"Stella, how is your daughter powerful?" I asked, raising the question at hand.

Stella looked into my eyes and sighed, "Kenlee, that's my daughter," she told me and I nodded, already knowing her daughter's name. "Ever since she was little, she's always had this pull around her. I don't know how powerful, but in my family, there are chosen ones. It skips every other generation. So it skipped me and went towards Kenlee." She spoke.

Was this woman serious? A chosen one? "Are we talking Buffy the Vampire Slayer chosen one?" I asked Stella. My mother glared at me once more and cleared her voice.

"Luka DeMarkus Catalano!" she screeched. I winced and rubbed my eyes, from when her voice leveled higher in pitch.

Stella laughed and nodded, "Sort of, Luka. She's not a slayer but she will become a target at some point in her life and she will need protection. You will be like her watcher." Stella told me.

My mother turned towards Stella and looked at her, "I thought Mitch had a watcher on her?" My mother questioned.

"Isobel, Mitch has millions of watchers looking after her, but I just don't trust them," Stella told my mother. I watched the two of them interact with each other and I sighed.

My mother, Isobel Natalia Rivera-Catalano and Stella Mae Calamia-Hayes have been best friends since they were children. They went to pre-school, elementary, junior high, high school and college together. They were joined at the hip. A year after college, my mother met my father, Dante Catalano, who was also Italian just like my mother.

In my mother's side of the family it was present that she marry into an Italian family, and the same went for Stella's family.

Stella was also very Italian and her parents wanted her to marry into Italian too and have the life that they had. Well she saw my mother marry Italian and she watched their marriage and decided to travel to America and see the world.

Right after my parents wedding, Stella told her family she'd be back soon and took off towards America. Stella spent two years in America before she came back to Italy with her fiancée, Mitchel Hayes. He was the son of a very rich multi-millionaire and soon to be the heir to that throne. My mother was pregnant with me when Stella had come back to little Italy and was very welcoming to Mitchel.

My father and Mitchel didn't see eye to eye at first, but he saw how much it meant to my mother and Stella, so he got to know Mitchel and began to grow a bond with him. They become good friends and soon they were best friends.

Stella's parents were not pleased at all by this marriage to be and they disowned their daughter. Stella was very upset that it had come down to this, but she was not going to throw away love like that. She married Mitchel five months later, and then I was born.

Stella and my mother cooed all over me when I was born and it made Stella want to have children of her own. She wanted to raise them here in Italy and have a life like she did. Well that plan did not go as planned…

Mitchel's father grew ill and they returned to America and his father soon died a month later. Mitchel took over his father's company and we didn't see Stella for a few years.

When I was five years old, Stella came knocking on our front door. Of course my mother was ecstatic that her best friend was back in town, but did not know that Stella had kept a secret from my mother.

I remember it like it was yesterday, my mother opened the door and there stood Stella with a baby in her arms. A little girl to be exact and my mother was speechless.

"Stella?" she had spoken. Stella, who was wide-eyed and frightened, looked at my mother and relief flooded into her ocean colored eyes.

"Isobel, please help me," she pleaded and handed her baby to my mother and collapsed onto the ground.

It had turned out that Stella and Mitchel were having some problems and were fighting all the time. He hit her a few times and she got frightened, packed a bag, grabbed her daughter and fled to Italy.

My mother, of course, opened her home up to her best friend and helped her get better. I was only five at the time and really couldn't understand what was going on, so I kept to myself and never really bothered with the women.

I did know who Stella was talking about when she said Kenlee. I did play with her a few times but she was like six months old, so she really never understood who I was. By the time Kenlee was a year old, Mitchel came looking for them.

He found them in my family's home and told Stella he was very sorry for what he did and she took him back. My mother had told her to stand her ground and live her life here in Italy, but Stella wanted her family back and Mitchel promised he wouldn't hit her again.

And he lived up to his word; he never did because we hardly saw Stella after that. I, again didn't pay attention for I was always with my father doing guy stuff and training with him.

My father is also a rich and powerful man, just like Mitchel, except Dante Catalano owned half of Italy. My father had me training to protect myself just in case something were to ever happen, that I would know what to do. I knew there was something under that truth right there, I felt like there was something bad out there after us.

I looked up from my little history lesson in my head and saw that my mother and Stella were looking directly at me. "Yes?" I asked them both.

"You alright there Luka?" Stella asked.

I looked at Stella and nodded, "Of course I am, so is this whole thing for real?" I asked her.

"Me wanting you to watch over my daughter?" she asked me with a smirk.

I nodded at her and she looked at my mother then back at me. "Yes. Luka I don't trust Mitchel anymore and I don't like his watchers especially that Thomas guy that's always looking out for her. Something is not right with him and I need someone I can trust around my little girl. I came here because your mother said you had been training to be a watcher." She said.

I looked at my mother in shock, "I was trained to be a watcher?" I asked her.

My mother looked into my brown orbs and sighed, "Yes, Luka. Our whole family is full of watchers, especially your father. He was my watcher and we fell in love and got married. You don't have to marry your person you protect but it just clicked for me and your father," she told me and I just kept looking at her in shock.

This was a new one for me. I didn't know I was trained to be a watcher. I just thought I was being trained to protect myself and my family, but not this.

"I don't understand," I spoke quietly.

"Neither did I son," I heard the voice of my father entering the room. I looked up and saw him dressed in a black pin stripped business suit, his dark brown eyes glazing into mine and his brown hair all messy, like mine is.

"Watcher?" I asked him and he sat right next to me.

"For many generations, there have been thousands of watchers out there in the world protecting loved ones and special people. I was trained when I was fifteen, just like you and when I turned twenty-one, I was sent to watch over Isobel Natalia Rivera, your mother." He spoke and gave a quick grin towards my mother, who returned his smile.

"She didn't know I was watching her at first, because I posed as a college student and made friends with her slowly. After we graduated, I left her alone for a while and watched from a far. I then started talking to her a year later for real and we hit it off. She found out after we were married that I had been watching her. She said she knew and I didn't understand how, but she said she just knew." He said and gazed into my mother's eyes lovingly.

"Your father was a watcher because he was always too busy looking over at me all the time, that's how I knew." She spoke; Stella and I laughed and just smiled at my parents.

"That's why I've been training you a little bit harder, so your chosen one won't be noticeable about your where abouts." My father told me.

I looked at my mother and stared at her, "You were a chosen one?" I asked.

She nodded and smiled, "Yes, I was."

"You hold very powerful powers too?" I asked with a smirk on my face. My father laughed and hit my shoulder.

My mother gave me a look and laughed, "No, that only happens to very few chosen ones." She told me and I nodded.

I looked over at Stella and stared her down, "You're sure that Kenlee has powers?"

Stella looked at me and nodded, "Very positive. She had an accident a year ago with one of the people looking after her. Of course Mitchel had told her that he was just a body guard, but this guy was very weird and looked at Kenlee weird. Kenlee and this body guard, Adam, had a talk one night and he said something to her and she didn't like it very much. He had grabbed her upper arms and she had pushed her hands against his chest and he was gone like that." Stella told me, snapping her fingers together.

"Was she okay?" I asked.

"Oh she was fine; Kenlee is a very brave and strong girl. She may not show it but she really is." Stella told me and I nodded.

"So you want me to be her watcher?" I asked after a few minutes of silence.

Stella looked at my father and then at me, "Well Luka, you were chosen to watch after Kenlee." She said.

"I was chosen?" I said skeptically.

"Yes, son." My father said. "When Stella had come to our home when Kenlee was a baby, we discussed that you would be her watcher when we saw how you handled her."

"And how did I handle her?" I asked.

My mother spoke up this time, "You treated her very nicely and you were a complete gentleman." She spoke.

"I was five, mother." I spoke with sarcasm. My father slapped my head and gave me a look.

"Stop." He ordered and I nodded.

"How old is Kenlee now?" I asked Stella.

"Kenlee just turned thirteen." She told me.

"And I have to wait until she's eighteen?" I asked and all three of them nodded. "And how will I be watching her exactly?" I asked them.

"When she is eighteen, you will fly to California, where we live and stay with us. Mitchell doesn't know that you're her chosen watcher. He doesn't really believe in that kind of stuff. He doesn't even believe that his daughter is very powerful. He's too busy doing his own stuff to notice his family." She told me, looking down at her nails.

"I have to leave Italy for America?" I asked, whining a bit. I loved Italy, it was my home and I never wanted to leave this place.

"Son, you have to just for a while." My father told me and I looked at my mother and sighed.

"Luka, please, will you do this for me?" My mother asked me. Wasn't Stella supposed to be the one that begs? I mean it is her daughter after all.

"Aw, mother, don't beg," I pleaded with her and looking into her green orbs and she whined a bit more and I finally sighed. "Fine, when she turns eighteen, call me and I'll come," I told Stella directly.

Stella stood up and pulled me into a standing position and put her arms around me. Me being almost a foot taller than her, I bent down just a bit so I could hug her properly.

"Thank you so much Luka. Lei è per sempre grate a me," she whispered in my ear. The Italian I took to heart, for it meant, 'You are forever grateful to me'. I would live up to my word and do this for Stella.

"No problem, Stella." I told her and pulled away. She looked at me once more before she wrapped my mother and then father into a hug to give her thanks.

The ladies went into the kitchen to cook some food while my father stayed behind and looked over at me.

"Thank you Luka," he told me standing side by side.

I glanced at him and laughed, "Yeah no problem pops," I said slapping his shoulder and going out the front door and towards my BMW.

---

Driving down the roads of Italy is always a favorite pass time of mine, especially during the night time when it's dark and no one is hardly ever on the road. It was almost 7 o'clock and the meeting with Stella had taken longer than I had originally wanted it to last.

I was supposed to meet my buddy Nathanial at 6:30 but that never happened, so I texted him and told him I was on the way towards his place.

Nathanial Franco was a very good friend of mine. He was only a couple years older than I, but he was one of the best damn fighters I have ever seen in my life. When I was fifteen, I met him in my fight training and we hit it off and have been buds ever since. We do everything together. I sound like a girl, but it's quite true. We do, do everything together. We fight most of the time, not argumental fighting but fists and kicking fighting. My father and his father used to be good friends before Nathanial's father passed away last year.

His father owned the place I trained at and now Nathanial owns the place. I pulled up to Franco Training of course it was written in Italian, parked my car, got out and opened the front door to Franco Training and stepped inside.

I saw boys aging from 6 to mid-twenties training in fighting. I would've started out training at six years old, but I was a scaredy cat when I was younger. I attended a few sessions when I was ten and thirteen but didn't really get into the fighting scene until fifteen.

I walked past some kids fighting until I got into Nathanial's office. I saw him on the phone talking, he glanced up at me and motioned for me to sit down and wait a minute. I came into the office, shut the door and sat in the chairs in front of his desk.

"Yes Mr. Catalano, he just walked into my office," he spoke, making sure I knew he was talking to my father.

"I'll make sure to tell him," Nathanial said and hung up the phone. He rolled his eyes and laughed looking at me. "Your father is one hell of a guy I'll tell you that." He told me and I ended up laughing.

"What'd he want?" I asked.

Nathanial just gave me a look and smirked, "So they told you who you're going to be watching didn't they?"

I groaned and shrunk down into his chair. "Nathanial, it's Stella Mae Calamia-Hayes' daughter."

Nathanial gave a low whistle and smirked again, "Dude I heard she's a firecracker."

"How did you hear about her?" I asked curiously.

He looked at me and just smiled, "You know Lucia, right?" he asked me.

Lucia…Lucia…No way.

"No way!" I shouted.

He smirked and nodded, "Oh yeah, I've been going on a few dates with her for a while now." He told me.

Lucia is not just any girl. She is a firecracker like Nathanial said Kenlee is. Lucia Octavia Calamia is someone you wished you never messed with. She puts family first, like I do and always sticks up for people in need.

Lucia is the daughter of Aria Leonora Gallina-Calamia and Stefano Gabriel Calamia. Yes, Calamia, meaning she is related to Stella. She is Stella's niece. Stefano Calamia is Stella's older brother by five years. Stefano has always been there for Stella when she needed anything.

He's a very good man, honorable and trustworthy. I would know because I grew up around Lucia, her only living a few blocks down from my family's home.

Anyway, Lucia…she is very hard to date. I tried asking her out once and she broke my hand because I placed it on her arm. So after that disaster, I stayed my distance from Lucia. She is a very beautiful girl, having crystal blue eyes and raven black hair, as she inherited it from her mother. She is a bit older than I, being 21 and in the same age range as Nathanial, so it's only right that they would date, right?

"How did that happen?" I asked him.

Nathanial leaned back into his office chair stuck his feet up on his desk and smirked at me. "I was teaching a class and she came in and just stood there and watched me. After my class ended, I went up to Lucia and I asked her 'what do you want Ms. Calamia?' and she looked me up and down and said 'You.' And we seduced each other and that was it!" he smirked.

I rolled my eyes, "You liar, what really happened? You saw her at the café, placed your hand on her arm, she freaked, grabbed your hand twisted it, tried to break it and when she saw your face, she immediately let go and apologized?" I said.

Nathanial looked at me in shock. "How did you know all that?" he asked taking his feet of his desk and leaning forward.

"You have a wrap on your hand and that story you told me sounds nothing like Lucia." I told him point straight noticing his hand.

He looked at his hand and just shook his head, "You were always the observative one, weren't you?" he asked smirking in my direction. I gave him a smirk back and shrugged.

"Maybe."

Nathanial just smiled and stared at me, "So Kenlee Hayes?" he asked seriously.

I glanced at his messy blonde hair, enhancing green eyes and the scar above his left eye that almost took his life. "Yeah, I don't really know anything about her except she's my mother's best friend's daughter. I know she's very powerful but doesn't know it yet. I know her father is dealing into some trouble right now. I just don't really know anything about her." I spoke to Nathanial.

He looked at me and sighed, "Well I know a little bit about her, but not much. Lucia is probably the one who can tell you all about her. She visits Kenlee every summer, spring and Christmas breaks that Kenlee has. They're like joined at the hip." Nathanial said telling me about Lucia Calamia.

I thought about it for a second and looked Nathanial straight in the eye. "Call Lucia, I need information."

---

"What the hell is so important that you had to make me come all the way down here, Nathan?" Lucia Calamia shouted pouncing into the office. I noticed her wearing a sundress with some high heels and some kind of purse that looked very expensive. Her long raven black hair went to the middle of her back and her blue eyes popped out with the dark eye makeup she had on.

Nathanial stood up and greeted her with a kiss on the lips to shut her up from shouting in his office and made her sit in the chair next to mine. I looked over to her and she was staring right at me.

"Oh, you have company. Hello Luke." She said in a princess tone, using my nickname.

"Hello Lucy," I spoke using her nickname that she hated people calling her. Did I forget to mention that I was pissed she broke my hand and we haven't been civil towards each other? Hmm…I wonder if she will give me information still.

"My name is Lucia." She spoke through her pearly white teeth.

I smirked at her and just nodded. She was seething in her mind; she didn't like me, did she? "Nathan, what is he doing here?" she asked impolitely. Oh yeah, she's really not nice.

Did she call him Nathan? Yes she did. He never lets people call him Nathan…oh god…she's got him whipped!

Nathanial looked over at me and noticed my expression and sighed, "Lucia, they've made Luka, Kenlee's watcher." He told her straight to the point.

It was as if time was frozen. She froze from staring at her nails, seeing as one was chipped. She turned her head from her nails and looked in my direction. "You are my Kenlee's Watcher!" she screeched.

I winced and looked her in the eyes, "Yes?" I spoke, not sure if she was going to kill me or not.

"What the hell is wrong with this world?" she muttered to herself and glanced at me up and down. "Well at least it's you and not someone else, or I would've killed a man." She spoke and I just looked at her questionably.

"What?" Nathanial and I spoke at the same time.

"Well Luka, I know you. So I'm glad you will be watching her and not some creep like that Thomas guy that's watching her now."

"Her body guard her father assigned her?" I asked.

"Yes him." She spoke through gritted teeth.

"What's wrong with him," Nathanial asked.

Lucia sighed and shook her head, "He's just creepy. Ever since she threw her old body guard against a wall, this Thomas guy has been around her. And he is just a little too overboard on the protecting the boss' daughter thing." She spoke. This kind of intrigued me because something was off with this guy and I wanted to get the bottom of this situation.

"So you've met him?" I asked. She gave me a 'Duh' look and I blushed.

"Of course I've met the man; he's weird, like I said." She told me, glancing back at her nails.

"Okay…" Nathanial spoke trying to ease away from the topic of this Thomas guy.

"Well can you tell me more about Kenlee?" I asked Lucia after a few minutes of silence.

Lucia looked me dead in the eyes. "You're not going to get the information and go all psycho on my poor Kenlee, are you?" she asked me seriously.

I gave Lucia a look and she sighed, "I know you wouldn't. You're her watcher, so you need to know stuff about her…What do you want to know?" Lucia asked me.

That was the question. What did I want to know?

"Everything."