Chapter Two

That night's patrol was a quiet slow one compared to the night before. I lay taking a breather on the roof of a restaurant; the aroma of food still hovered around the building even though the cooks had long been in their beds. The time was well past midnight and my men were spread about the city, in the shadows, patrolling and assisting wherever necessary. My hand felt as if it were on fire, which seemed ironic considering it had been burned, I held it close to my chest as I stood up to continue my patrol.

Without warning my foot slipped on the roof tile and I hit the roof on my back, sliding down towards the street bellow. Instinctively I used my hand to try and slow my decent enough to get back on my feet.

My burned hand screamed with pain and I realized too late that I had used my left hand to stop my fall. I retracted it and dug my feet into the tile instead.

It wasn't enough.

I fell off the side of the restaurant roof at a speed that was bound to break something when I hit the stone cobble streets-if not worse.

Instantly I knew what I had to do. I'd done it countless times before; it was only a matter of concentration.

I closed my eyes and the world seemed to slow around me. I could feel the dark, cold night all around me.

"Shadows….Darkness unveil!"

"Hey! Hey are you alright?"

I slowly opened my heavy eyelids at the sound of the voice. I blinked away the fog at the corners of my vision until I could clearly see the night sky above me.

I was lying on a wooden bench close to the sea that surrounded Regalo, I could smell the salt and fish that the water held. A street lamp lit up the portion of the road I was on more than I would have preferred. Finally standing beside the bench was a girl with pink hair that she had tied into two ponytails; her large green eyes were concerned. I starred at her trying to place where I had seen her face before.

"Are you alright?" She repeated her eyes trying to read my face.

"…Yes…" I responded absentmindedly.

She sighed with relief, "Oh good!" She gave a small smile,"When I found you lying in that alley, I thought you were dead."

"Alley?" I shook my head as I remembered that I had used my arcane power to save myself when I had fallen off the roof. As always it took a lot out of a person to use arcane abilities, since a contracted card took its power from your life.

"Yes. That's where I found you, not even a block from here." Her face took on a slightly confused expression, "How did you get there anyway? What happened to you?"

I noticed the suit she was wherein then. My eyes widened, "You're from the Arcana Famiglia?"

She nodded, "Yes, my name is Felicita. Why?"

Suddenly I recognized this girl, my mind flashed with the memory of the young pink haired girl that had come to live at the Mansion. She was the Princess, the Mondo's daughter, and she was the leader of Sword, the serie that was in charge of negotiations and compromises with the ordinary citizens of Regalo. This girl who was probably one of the few who had been told about my serie.

I stood up off the bench and bowed to the girl, "Princess forgive my ignorance. I did not realize it was you." When I straightened myself there was a shocked look on her face.

"You're one of the family members?" She exclaimed her voice showing clearly her surprise, "But I've never seen you before, not to mention….well I just thought that I was the only girl in the family besides Mama…"

Ignoring the last part of her sentence I skipped straight to introducing myself, "My name is Eileen Cozart. I am the head of the serie Shadow. I apologize for not introducing myself earlier." A strange look took over her face when I had finished speaking. The look made me instantly uneasy and I regretted speaking at all, I had let my guard down around this girl-had I said something I shouldn't have?

"I've….never heard of that serie." She spoke in a murmur, "What…What does it do?" Her voice gained in strength with each word, "And why haven't I seen you at the diners for the serie heads before?"

Realizing that I had just given up the name of my serie to this girl I froze. Princess or not, if she had never been told about Shadow before, then she could either not be trusted or was simply not permitted to have the knowledge. I had given up the one secret I had been sworn to keep.

"Forgive me Princess..." I backed away from her slowly before I dove into the shadows of the buildings beside the road.

"Hey wait!" She called after me. I ignored her voice, not hesitating as I used a crate to give myself the height to leap onto a porch overhead and return to the rooftops of Regalo.

I barely made it back to the living quarters of my serie before the sun rose over the city. Waiting for me in the front room when I entered were two of my best men, also my closest friends, Antonio, and Carlo. Neither of them spoke as a made my way to my chair before the fire. Carlo, who sat on the floor to the right of the fireplace, poked the logs and threw in a new one to encourage the fire's small flames. Antonio straightened the white wool cloth that covered my chair for me before stepping back so I could sit down. When I was seated they both looked at me expectantly.

I sighed and pulled the white wool that I loved so much around my shoulders. I knew I had to tell them, but I also knew…that I wouldn't.

"I fell off a roof." I said simply, "I had to use the power of my card to get away unscathed so I spent most of the night asleep."

Antonio scolded slightly at me, "You shouldn't be so reckless. You could have killed yourself falling off that roof."

"I'm just glad you're safe Mistress." Carlo sighed calling her by the title she had gained among her men. He stood up and stretched, "Come on then Antonio, we should let her rest."

I sat starring at the fire as I listened to the sound of their footsteps disappearing down the hall behind me. I had to fix what I had done. I would go to the Princess tomorrow, and I would beg her to keep silent. If I was lucky she would, and if I wasn't…then I would face the punishment that was given to me.

Thank you all for the views you have been giving me, it has been more that i could have ever dreamed for this fanfiction. Thank you so much!

And if you liked this fanfiction then i'm sure you have already seen the show or manga. If you haven't you should, it has a solid story and minimal inapropriate content (though there is some and the show and manga are ongoing)

Anyway I digress, thanks for reading!