She looked up to see a tall, broad man saunter in behind the Faceless goons. As he neared, she saw the sharp outline of facial features…which meant he had a role. A Role-Holder of some Diamonds territory.
She’d never seen him before in her life.
Glasses rested on a strong nose, but they didn’t cover the scars crisscrossed over his face—a stark contrast to his calm expression. He wore a black suit similar to the Faceless, but with a badge on his left lapel.
The Faceless men seemed stunned to see the man in glasses; they scratched their heads in obvious confusion.
“B-Boss…”
“What are you doing here?”
“I could ask you the same question. You all disappeared on me, and now I find you roughing up innocent citizens? Watch it. You know trouble’s not allowed during the Survey Meeting.”
“W-we’re sorry.”
“We just thought that if you knew what hand the Hatter was holding, you could take him down easier—”
“You shouldn’t have done this.”
The “boss” sounded like he was scolding a group of children. The Faceless men all bowed their heads in unison.
With a wry smile, the scarred leader turned his attention on Alice.
“I’m sorry for the trouble, miss.”
Alice was surprised at the apology. She brushed out her skirt.
“Uh…it’s okay? They didn’t…hurt me or anything…”
The man stared at her face for a moment. “You’re an Outsider?” he murmured. “But you…seem pretty comfortable in this world.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m comfortable with everything, but… Yeah, I’m an Outsider.”
She remembered her somewhat hyper reaction to similar words when she’d first arrived in Hearts. But now she just nodded.
The corners of the man’s mouth curved up. It softened his rough features.
“Gotcha. Sorry again.”
“Why are you sorry agai—whoa!”
The man suddenly pulled her against his body and leapt down the alley, the action so rough that Alice’s feet dragged across the concrete. Alice gasped her surprise as bullets exploded the bricks behind where they’d been standing.
The Faceless men scattered. “It’s the March Hare!” one of them shouted.
“Don’t shoot at our boss, you bastard!”
Elliot bared his teeth from the far end of the alley, smoke swirling from the barrel of his gun. But he ignored the Faceless; his furious eyes were locked on Alice.
“What the hell did you tell the Gravekeeper?”
Alice’s heartbeat thundered in her ears. “G-Gravekeeper?” she stuttered.
“I knew it!” Elliot snarled. “I knew you were in cahoots with that asshole!”
Alice jerked her head at the man who slowly released her. He flicked his ocean blue eyes at her.
He shrugged.
“The Hare’s always had an itchy trigger finger.” He looked up at Elliot. “It’s forbidden to attack members of other territories during the festival.”
Elliot cursed. “What do I care about that?! Tell me straight, Gravekeeper—is the girl your spy?”
“Well, no, but I doubt you believe me.”
The Gravekeeper. She’d heard that name in the Country of Diamonds. Elliot had called him the enemy…which she believed, considering Elliot had shot at the guy in broad daylight.
The Gravekeeper made no sign of drawing a weapon, but Elliot kept his finger on the trigger. Elliot slowly advanced; Alice stayed stock still, her heart racing.
When the Gravekeeper made a slight move to back off, Elliot’s free hand shot out and clamped over Alice’s wrist.
“Ow!”
Elliot clearly didn’t care about her cry of pain as he roughly dragged her toward him.
“Shut up. I’m taking you back to Blood—he’ll get you to talk!”
“You’re hurting me!” Alice snapped back. “Quit being so rough!” She tried to pry her arm free, but it didn’t do her much good. And it only seemed to stoke Elliot’s anger.
“I told you to shut up!”
Alice winced as he squeezed her harder. “S-stop it!”
“Hey,” the Gravekeeper suddenly bellowed. “My men grabbed her. You don’t have to—”
“You stay outta this!”
The Gravekeeper sucked his teeth. “I don’t believe this guy,” he murmured in quiet surprise.
But Alice barely heard it; Elliot had stopped dead still in the alley, causing her to stumble right into his back.
Blood stood before him, blocking the way to the street. His blue-green eyes were ice.
“What do you think you’re doing, Elliot?”
Elliot straightened. “B-Blood! I finally found her. And like I thought, she—gah!”
Elliot’s attempt to shove Alice forward was thwarted by Blood’s cane whipping across his face.
“I asked you a question, Elliot,” Blood said thinly. “What do you think you’re doing?” He flipped the cane in his hand and swung it, hard, into Elliot’s side. Elliot cried out and hunched over.
“I ordered you to bring her back. Did I tell you to hurt her?”
“Nngh…ggh!”
As Blood mercilessly beat his subordinate, Elliot didn’t try to run or even defend himself—he just let Blood whack him over and over with the rod. Elliot’s weakening grip slid off Alice. She didn’t know what to do, so she just stood there, watching in horror.
Even when blood welled up at the corners of Elliot’s mouth, Blood didn’t stop.
“Answer me, Elliot! Did I tell you to do that?!
“No, you…y-you didn’t!”
“Then why don’t you listen to me?”
Wham! Blood jammed the end of the cane into Elliot’s solar plexus. Elliot’s tall form finally collapsed to the ground.
“Koff…augh…”
“Why do I have to constantly tell you not to go beyond what I order you to do? You know that if I can’t keep you in line, everybody will think I can’t even housebreak a pet!” Blood rammed the bottom of his boot into the back of Elliot’s head. As Elliot curled against the concrete, Blood walked around him, his furious eyes on Alice.
Alice automatically recoiled, bracing herself.
But Blood simply took her hand, turned his back on the Gravekeeper, and walked back toward the street. Shocked into silence, she just ran to keep up with his quick steps. He didn’t even spare a glance for the fallen Elliot.
Alice swallowed. She turned to look back, but the Gravekeeper and his men were already leaving, their backs to her as they exited the opposite end of the alley.
It was clear that both he and Blood were pointedly not looking at each other. It felt less like an argument and more the evidence of a deep, dangerous rift.
“W-was that the Gravekeeper?” Alice ventured quietly.
“Yes. That’s the first time you’ve seen his face?”
“Um…yeah.” Alice took a breath. “What’s he the leader of?”
“The Gravekeeper territory, obviously. He runs the graveyard and the art museum.”
“Art museum?” Alice repeated in surprise. “That’s…not what I would usually lump in with a graveyard.” Running a place to exhibit beautiful art while at the same time managing a place where people mourned for the dead… She imagined he was an odd leader.
And what counted as a “grave” in Wonderland, anyway? When the people in that world “died,” their bodies vanished. All that remained were stopped clocks that had once ticked away in their chests—and Julius was supposed to fix those.
As she wondered about that, she murmured, “He dressed kinda like you, Blood. I thought he was Mafia.”
“That’s because he is.”
“Huh?”
Blood’s reply stopped her short. He continued a few steps past her before stopping himself and turning around.
The anger in his eyes had vanished, replaced with an amused gleam. He seemed to enjoy her reaction.
“His name is Jericho Bermuda,” Blood explained. “He oversees the graveyard, directs the museum, and yes, he is also a Mob boss. I don’t know how he looked to you, but he and I are villains of the same stripe.” His mouth slanted. “If you think he’s going to ensnare you, you’d better be prepared for the consequences.”
Alice grimaced. “Thanks for the warning,” she muttered.
Footsteps slowly tapped from behind them. Alice glanced back to see Elliot, hunched over slightly, his fists rubbing at the blood that had leaked from his puffy mouth.
Alice knit her eyebrows together at the pained look on his face. She leaned in to whisper to Blood.
“I know this might sound…weird coming from me, since you technically helped me, but…maybe you overdid it with him.”
“I have my own ways of doing things,” Blood replied coolly. “Don’t tell me how to train my dog.”
It was clear that he didn’t want her opinion—and her being an Outsider probably didn’t help. She pursed her lips and gave up.
There was nothing between her and these people that resembled trust or friendship. He was just her landlord now…and nothing more.