[attr="class","serahtext"]



The first thing Seraphine noticed about Zev Harcourt was that he was her type: tall, dark, and handsome. The second thing she noticed was the complete lack of emotion in his tone of voice when he greeted her, and how it contrasted with the look he gave her prior to speaking. She was his type too, it seemed. That deadpan, professional greeting (the sort of man who takes his job way too seriously), however, should have triggered an alarm bell, but for some reason, this man's gaze cut through her as easily as a knife through butter: a thrill that distracted her from that very first red flag.[break][break]
"Indeed you do," she drawled, painted lips curling into a suggestive smile. "Come with me."[break][break]
She led him to the spiral staircase that was the primary pathway to her private studio. As he walked behind her, she swore she could feel his eyes on her, following the graceful arch of her back down to the curve of her hip. That evening, she wore a sleek black gown, simple and elegant, and of course, quite form-fitting. She had not known what sort of man would be walking into her gallery, but she always tried to be prepared. Her smile grew more pleased.[break][break]
Inside her studio, she turned to face him again, leaning back against her main worktable. Her own eyes - a molten gold - watched him eagerly, a hint of mischief in her expression.[break][break]
"So tell me, Mr. Harcourt - who would you like to become?"

[attr="class","serahooc"][break]

BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","zevhtext"]



As they'd walked through the upper floor of her art gallery, Zev realized they were passing through her apartment. Hallways led to unknown rooms. Finally, they emerged in what was clearly her studio, her workspace.[break][break]

He stood just outside of arm's reach. The purpose of his visit outweighed whatever other interests had entered his mind. "Someone who isn't a professional killer."[break][break]

If what Cillian Quinn said was true, then Seraphine wouldn't be fazed by the truth of his answer.[break][break]

Zev took a small notebook out of his pocket and opened it, flipping to a certain page. "I jotted down some ideas. The early years can be the same — it will be easier to lie if the falsehoods are based on my actual life experience — but starting when I was twenty-four, things need to change."

[attr="class","zevhooc"][break]

BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","serahtext"]



Seraphine listened to the man's thought-process as he talked through the bullet points in his little notebook. She liked the way he gestured: the way his shoulders moved and his hands flexed. She could tell that he was muscular and dexterous. As she watched him, she couldn't help but imagine the body beneath the plain, utilitarian clothing.[break][break]
"I can work with this," she concluded. She turned and sauntered over to a filing cabinet, pulling out a form. Grabbing a pen, she began filling out several of the boxes. Then she slid the paper across the table for Zev to see. As she leaned over, she knew that a significant amount of cleavage would be exposed by the low dip of her dress - this was, of course, a purposeful suggestion, all part of the experience she offered her clients. And yet, it did thrill her when the client in question was actually someone she found attractive.[break][break]
"This is my contract. You must sign here, here, and here," a pointed, painted nail tapped the form in three places. "I take half the payment up front, then the rest once I deliver your documents: ID, birth certificate, diplomas, whatever you need. I think in your case, enough to open an unassuming business in Slateport's Lower District would be sufficient."[break][break]

[attr="class","serahooc"][break]

BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","zevhtext"]



Zev's expression remained neutral as he watched the move throughout the room, yet his eyes lingered longer than appropriate on the curves of her body and the tantalizing display of her cleavage. Still, when she explained the form and her own process, he turned his attention back to business. Taking up the pen in one hand, he sat across from Seraphine at the table to read through the contract.[break][break]

"A business in the Lower District," he mused aloud, echoing her words. Yes, that would be a suitable cover. "Do you have any recommendations for something innocuous, but that would let me meet a lot of different people?"[break][break]

After all, Zev needed to find his brother, and one of the best ways to hunt someone down was by word of mouth.[break][break]

In Seraphine's studio apartment, they talked for another hour, brainstorming ideas and hashing out details for the hitman's new life in Hoenn. Afterward, Zev paid her in cash, blood money from his work in Kanto. They parted with a handshake, the contact lasting a second too long; Zev departed with a slight pang of disappointment. Standing on the sidewalk outside of the art gallery, he glanced back up at the second floor of the building, at the window that filtered light into her studio.[break][break]

But business had no room for pleasure. Not on that day.[break][break][break]

[break]

Nearly a year later, Zev had almost forgotten about Seraphine. A week after his appointment with her, he'd returned to her gallery to pick up his documents and deliver the second half of her payment. He had been busy then, too, and despite how utterly ravishing she looked that day, he'd only looked. And then he'd put her out of his mind.[break][break]

Until now.[break][break]

Zev had no appointment this time. He walked through the open rooms of her art gallery, ignoring the paintings on the walls that had changed since his last visit. They were irrelevant to his visit.[break][break]

"Seraphine," he said in greeting upon seeing her in the largest chamber, the one with the highest ceiling and the largest walls. He paused as his eyes drank in her lithe body. Unlike her paintings, she had not changed.[break][break]

Then he raised his blue gaze to meet her golden one. Extending a hand, he showed her a photograph of a man dressed in a Kanto policeman's uniform. Though not identical to Zev, the man had similar enough features that they were clearly related, though he looked several years younger than the hitman.[break][break]

"Has this person come by at all? For an appointment, maybe?" Zev asked, his voice terse. Clearly, it was a matter of importance.

[attr="class","zevhooc"][break]

BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","serahtext"]



Seraphine's life was one of luxury, entertainment, and the constant hunt for a lasting creative muse. The past year had been full of jobs - both legal and illegal - as well as galas, gallery openings, charity events, and she'd even taught a few classes. Through it all, she'd begun to attract the attention of the criminal organization, Team Rocket. Though she'd had her flings here and there over the past year, contact with Rocket made her think of the man who had stopped by the previous summer - a professional hitman from Kanto looking for an innocuous, civilian identity behind which to hide from League scrutiny.[break][break]
As if the universe had heard her thoughts, deciding to grant her unspoken wish to see that man again, one day in April, he appeared. He walked right into her gallery like he owned the place.[break][break]
"Zev?" She looked up from where she had been packaging up a painting for a client, golden eyes widening in surprise. The intensity of his gaze was jarring, but just as handsome as she remembered it. "Good to see you again."[break][break]
The hope that he had appeared in her gallery simply because he'd wanted to see her again - after all, she'd been thinking about him as of late - died before it had even truly blossomed, as he held up a photograph for her to identify. Zev had an agenda, and it had nothing to do with missing her. Ignoring the small, irrational pang of disappointment, she gazed at the man in the photograph.[break][break]
"I have never seen this man before," she said, which was true. But her artist's eye did not miss the similarities between this man and the one standing before her. "He looks like he could be your brother," she observed.

[attr="class","serahooc"][break]

BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","zevhtext"]



Zev felt a pang of disappointment too, but not for the same reason. He had hoped Seraphine would answer in the positive, identifying Caleb for who he was and providing Zev any information at all that could help him in his hunt. But here was another dead end.[break][break]

Pocketing the photograph, Zev said, "He is. He's my younger brother, Caleb. I heard he might be here in Hoenn, but haven't seen him around."[break][break]

The man was disinclined to give Seraphine more information than that. After all, she wasn't even a member of Team Rocket; she was merely a civilian contact of use.[break][break]

"If you see him at all, let me know." The chance Caleb would show up at Seraphine's gallery in the future to change his identity was fairly low, but Zev was unwilling to pass up the opportunity to have another set of eyes and ears on the lookout.[break][break]

Glancing down at the table, he spotted a piece of scrap paper and a pen. Reaching for them, he quickly jotted down some numbers. "You can reach me at this number for now. It's for my burner phone, so I might have to change it in the future. I'll give you a heads up if I do."

[attr="class","zevhooc"][break]

BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","serahtext"]



His brother? Seraphine cocked her head, intrigued. Several questions immediately surfaced in her mind - why didn't Zev know where his brother was? Were they estranged? Was the brother a criminal too? The flash of disappointment she'd momentarily seen on his face made her think that he had expected her to have created a new identity for this man the same way she had for him...[break][break]
She did not ask any of these questions. If Zev had wanted to disclose anything more, he would have. His expression was hard, knife-edged, revealing little about his emotional landscape save for the tiniest sense of frustration she could intuitively feel from him.[break][break]
"I will let you know the moment I see him, if I do," she assured Zev. "I will look out for him - or any signs of him - amongst my various social circles."[break][break]
The reality was, Seraphine was not the only forger in Hoenn. Caleb could have used the services of another; therefore, the name Caleb Harcourt might be irrelevant when it came to finding him. Finding him would not necessarily be easy, if he'd even come to Hoenn at all. But she didn't need to rub that in.[break][break]
She took the slip of paper, pocketing it. Assuming he would leave as abruptly as he'd entered, she resumed packaging up the large painting before her.[break][break]

[attr="class","serahooc"][break]

BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","zevhtext"]



Seraphine's cooperation would have to be good enough. Zev gave her a single nod indicating his appreciation and turned to leave, as he had no intention of staying. She, too, clearly did not wish to entertain him further.[break][break]

Then he paused and looked back at her.[break][break]

"By the way, I did open that bar," he said. "It's called Howling at the Moon, in the Lower District in the night market area. Come by sometime."[break][break]

He extended the invitation not because he wished to see her again, but because Howling was only a few weeks old, and he needed as much business as he could get.[break][break]

Without waiting for Seraphine's response, Zev left the gallery.[break][break]

[break]

Late at night on a Thursday, Howling at the Moon was relatively empty — which was par for the course for a brand new bar. Zev stood behind the bar itself, helping his sole bartender on shift with cleaning and organizing the glasses. He looked up as the front door opened, the sound louder than normal due to the quiet.[break][break]

None other than Seraphine D’aureville walked in, looking no less stunning than she did when he last saw her. And since Zev was in a public space with a few civilians around, he smiled the charming, dimpled smile of his public persona as she approached.[break][break]

"Hey, good to see you," he said to her, his tone light, cordial — not carrying any hint of the callousness with which she was familiar. "What can I get you tonight?"

[attr="class","zevhooc"][break]

BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","serahtext"]



The bar was cozy and inviting. It lacked the high end sophistication of the restaurants she more often frequented, but there was something appealing about it all the same. She sidled up to the bar, immediately catching the attention of the proprietor: the man she had been hoping to see.[break][break]
Zev's demeanor could not have been more different than the last time she'd seen him. A week ago, he'd been all cold, blunt edges with an undercurrent of irritation; now, he was softer, more relaxed, even pleased to see her. The handsome smile he flashed her as she hopped up onto a bar stool made her stomach do a weird little flip. Arceus, he was attractive.[break][break]
"Surely you have a signature drink?" She inquired, sitting forward over the bar counter so that the low cut of her dress was clearly visible to him. Her golden eyes shone with a playful suggestion.[break][break]
Over the course of the next hour, she had several of Howling at the Moon's signature drinks...Zev was experimenting with different offerings, and she tried them all. Despite needing to attend to the occasional work task, Zev chatted with her, having a drink or two of his own, and as time passed, she became more and more acutely aware of the hungry expression on his face...the way his cobalt eyes ran over the curves of her body. His obvious physical attraction to her was intoxicating, and she wanted nothing more than for him to give into his desire.[break][break]
Luckily for her, Zev was the sort of man who took what he wanted, without hesitation. He was straightforward in that way, egged on, of course, by Seraphine's naturally flirtatious personality. It would surprise no one who happened to see them together at the bar, that Seraphine did, in fact, end up in Zev's bed later that evening. They all but ripped each other's clothes off, the build-up of lust since the moment they'd met a year ago clearly inspiring their passionate lovemaking.[break][break]
Seraphine had not been so thoroughly satisfied by a man in quite some time.[break][break]

[attr="class","serahooc"][break]

BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","zevhtext"]



That night had been the first of many. Even though Zev had kicked Seraphine out of his apartment the next morning, the hard edge returning to his demeanor, that did not stop them from meeting again a week later for another turn in the sheets. Then again after only a few days had passed. And again.[break][break]

And so it went.[break][break]

After a month had passed of late night trysts, mostly at Seraphine's apartment, she asked him out. A proper date, she had said.[break][break]

It was not the first time a woman had sought more of a relationship from Zev. Back in Kanto, he'd had a few girlfriends — not many, considering he prioritized his work above all else, and not for very long, either. But the promise of a few months of steady sex was enough for him to acquiesce.[break][break]

Their first date was at a restaurant more to her taste, somewhere fancy in the Upper District. Out in public, he put on that charming smile for her again, acting in all the gentlemanly ways he'd observed and practiced when he was alone at home. He asked about her life, held her hand as they walked, and kissed her sweetly on the street after dinner.[break][break]

And despite knowing how cold he'd been the first two times they'd met, she fell for the lies, eating up the poison that tasted like honey.

[attr="class","zevhooc"][break]

BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","serahtext"]



Seraphine began to inevitably think of Zev as her boyfriend. And why shouldn't she? They'd been sleeping together for a few weeks, been on a few dates. In public, he was friendly, talkative, even occasionally romantic. In private, he was an attentive lover, worshiping her body as a devotee might worship his goddess. Everything was wonderful.[break][break]
Until it wasn't.[break][break]
It didn't happen overnight. It was a subtle thing, like water eroding stone. As time passed, Seraphine began to notice that Zev preferred to go home after an evening of love-making rather than sleep over and spend the next morning with her. He claimed work was often too busy for him to stay, but that excuse grew stale the more times she heard it, crusting over with the false promise of "maybe next time."[break][break]
Unanswered invites to watch movies cuddled up on the couch, come over to the gallery just to hang out, or play dates between their Pokémon began to pile up. The absence of tender acts of romantic intimacy, expressed in private - a soft kiss, a hand running through her hair, hand-holding...he never seemed keen on any of it. She'd dated men who did not like public displays of affection, but Zev seemed to be the opposite: in public, he would indulge her with an affectionate gesture, but in private, he rarely touched her outside of carnal pleasure.[break][break]
It was almost as if he were an actor in a play, putting on a show for those who might see him with his "girlfriend", when in reality, she was nothing more than a convenient lay.[break][break]
It would have been easier had Seraphine allowed herself to accept this fact sooner.[break][break]
But of course, the human heart is a stubborn thing.[break][break]
[break][break]
"Zev, you've barely looked up from your phone," Seraphine sighed from across the dinner table. They were on their main course now, and her date had been glued to his text messages since the moment they'd entered the restaurant.

[attr="class","serahooc"][break]

BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","zevhtext"]



For a moment, Zev didn't seem to have heard Seraphine's complaint. He finished tapping out a text message before putting down the device and resuming his meal. The steak knife cut into the medium-rare meat, revealing the pink flesh inside.[break][break]

"I told you, we're really busy at the bar right now. I have a bunch of new contracts I'm trying to secure with suppliers," he said before forking some of the steak into his mouth. For once, his words lacked the patience and genial tone he often used in public, instead taking on an edge of annoyance.[break][break]

Zev's phone buzzed again with a new notification. Putting down his utensils, he picked up the device to read the message, still chewing his food.

[attr="class","zevhooc"][break]

BY GUNSMILE

[attr="class","serahtext"]



Seraphine ground her teeth in frustration. She had barely touched her pasta. Zev's tone was dismissive, as if she should have expected this.[break][break]
"I know things have been busy, but you're with me right now," she insisted. "When we're on a date, I expect you to pay at least some attention to me."[break][break]
This wasn't the first time this had happened. In fact, work seemed to be getting in the way of nearly everything they tried to do lately - besides sex. Funny how that seemed to work. Golden eyes narrowed, the glare indicative of her souring mood.[break][break]
"Can't work wait until we're done dinner?" Seraphine pleaded, trying - and failing - to keep her tone even. Anger mixed with a growing anxiety; after all, the dam holding back the flood was starting to crack.

[attr="class","serahooc"][break]

BY GUNSMILE