Integra knew something was wrong when she heard the rush of footsteps racing for her office door. Her suspicions were confirmed when Seras barreled in and threw her arms around the older woman, knocking the Hellsing heiress's glasses askew. Integra perched her rounded spectacles back on the bridge of her nose as she gently patted the girl's back. "What's wrong?" she asked in a soothing voice, but she had a sneaking suspicion that she already knew.

Seras simply continued to blubber into her boss's lap, leaving Integra's question unanswered.

Alucard materialized in the door, wearing a haggard expression. His coat was sporting a few new gashes and a rather wet patch on his chest, presumably the work of the police girl's all-consuming grief. She also noted that there was a distinct lack of cat.

The Hellsing director fixed him with a pointed glare. "Alucard, what did you do?"

The vampire's eyes met his master's, and he looked away, finding the ground to be suddenly interesting.

"Alucard!" Integra snapped over the draculina's disconsolate wails. "What did you do?!"

"Nothing! I swear," he sighed.

"Where's the cat?" the blonde woman hissed. Her expression was enough to send a lesser man scampering.

As it was, Alucard took a step back before answering, "Gone."

Sera's shoulders shook with renewed intensity as she was reminded of her missing pet. The Hellsing director massaged her temples with tense hands . "Please tell me you didn't eat our cat."

"I didn't eat your cat!"

"Then why is she crying?" Integra countered, gesturing to the sobbing girl in her lap.

The eternal teenager sniffled loudly, wiping her tears on the edge older woman's coat. "Kasha ran away."

The human raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You mean to tell me that two vampires weren't able to catch a cat?"

Alucard once again found himself unable to meet his master's intense gaze. Seras, too, looked into the corners of the room.

Integra threw her hands up in the air. "Britain is doomed."

"I'll get the damn cat back," the No-Life King muttered darkly, hating the words that passed through his own lips. He couldn't bear to see his protegee so utterly devastated and his master so utterly disappointed. He'd gladly get a dozen sodding cats, demonic or otherwise, if it would get the two women back to normal. Well, maybe not gladly.

Seras smiled at him, eyes red-rimmed, and reached for the Hellsing director's coat again. Integra deftly pulled her jacket out of the draculina's reach and placed a handkerchief in the girl's hand instead. Seras blew her nose loudly, then asked her master, "Really?"

He nodded once, his face the very image of seriousness. His expression only softened when the police girl launched herself at him and wrapped her arms around his neck with repeated whispers of thankfulness. Alucard found himself sincerely hoping that he found the blasted cat, and swiftly.

The master vampire trundled back into the Hellsing manor just as the sun was coming up. He had been out all night searching for the accursed cat with every last bit of his abilities. He'd become one with the shadows of London, jetting around the streets and peering into every dark corner faster than the eye could see. He'd summoned his hell hound Baskerville to track the demon's scent from where they'd last seen her outside the vet's office, but her trail was lost among the myriad of London smells. He'd even closed his eyes, sat stock still, and just listened for the tiny pitter-patter of her feet. After nearly ten hours, he was ready to throw in the towel. Maybe the demon-cat had been eaten stray dogs, or had fallen into the Thames. All he knew was it was nowhere to be-

Alucard opened the door to his basement lair, and there she was, perched on the foot of his coffin. Her feline lips twisted in ways that shouldn't be possible as she smiled coldly at the vampire. Her black tail twitched in amusement as she watched his expression morph into shock, then into rage. The room seemed to grow even darker as the shadows wrapped themselves around their master, answering to his beck and call. The air darkened around the cat, who looked around with wild red eyes as she realized what was about to happen. She bounded from side to side, trying to dodge the oncoming storm, but the shadows were far more agile than even her. Tendrils of nothingness darted up from the ground, wrapping themselves around her tiny paws and securing her firmly in place.

"Why are you keeping me here, vampire?" she growled, struggling against the darkness. "Let me go!"

"Now that is a good question. The women upstairs are already distraught. Would they be any more distraught if I simply killed you?" He let the shadows squeeze a little tighter, and was rewarded with a puff of air forced from the demon's lungs. "It would make my life much more pleasant."

"My masters are displeased with your reluctance," Kasha informed him through narrowed eyes. "They won't leave me here. They'll send others."

"I can kill others," Alucard shrugged.

"But you can't kill me?"

The vampire sighed heavily. "I'd rather not. You see, if I carry you back upstairs to my master, I'll be a hero for a few hours. They'll be happy, and more importantly quiet, and I can get a few hours of shut-eye before the next crisis."

"Why not let me take you to my masters instead? Then I'll be out of your hair forever. My masters are powerful. They can get you another cat - an identical one! Your loved ones will never know the difference."

"That is so very tempting," Alucard conceded, wishing for what felt like the hundredth time that he could just snap the demon's neck and be done with its infuriating existence. "But I've seen Hell, and sent many others there in pieces. No one ever escapes unscathed. I'm sure I could find my way back home, but what would the cost be? I'll pass, thank you."

"You're never going to come with me, are you." It wasn't a question, so much as a realization. "I could drive you insane for years, and still you'd stay with your human and the vampire girl."

"Only death will separate me from them."

Kasha sighed. "It would be so easy to arrange, especially for the human. One convincing expression, and she'd let me onto her bed, and snuggle me as she fell asleep. She'd never wake up." She sighed again. "But you'd skin me alive the moment I tried anything. Still, it's nice to dream."

"Face it, cat. You're stuck here with me."

The hell-beast fixed the vampire with an odd stare. "I... I know. Then why are we fighting?"

Alucard shrugged. "It's fun. How else am I supposed to entertain myself?"

She rolled her ruby eyes in a very un-catlike manner. "I'm proposing a truce, you aggressive nincompoop."

"Scathing," the No-Life King said dryly. But he allowed the shadows to release the kasha and retreat back to the corners of the room. "Stay away from my coat, or I'll use your fur to line my collar." His fingers absentmindedly stroked the crimson fabric where the creature's sharp claws had punctured it.

"Your ostentatious clothing will survive, so long as I stay away from that cold, awful place." She gave a violent shudder.

"You mean the vet," Alucard realized with a hint of amusement. "Tell that to Integra. For all she knows, you could have rabies, or fleas, or worms, or mange, or the plague-"

"This is not a negotiation!" the feline hissed.

"Fine," the No-Life King agreed. "I won't push my master to send you to the vet, but I won't stop her if that is her decision."

"I suppose it will have to do," Kasha conceded. "I suppose that just leaves us to prepare."

"For what?" Alucard asked with a derisive snort.

The demonic cat's fur hackled along her spine. "For the others."