Integra stood at her bedroom window. The sun was setting and she was enjoying her first cigar of the evening, a cup of hot tea courtesy of Walter sitting beside her ashtray. The window was raised halfway, the tepid breeze toying with the wisps of smoke from the cigar and the hot ashes resting in the crystal tray, blending them with the steam from the cup of tea. She wore a smile on her lips as her eyes played over the vast yard and the edge of the surrounding forest. So far, it was a good day. August would call her in... she cast a look at her watch... roughly half an hour, she would do paperwork while they chatted, then they would say their goodbyes and resume work as usual. Talking to him always seemed to mellow her out a bit, something she seriously needed in her line of work.

Her bedroom door creaked open a touch. She didn't move, nor did she have to think long about who was edging their way into her room. She had heard no footsteps, which meant that it wasn't Seras, and Walter would have knocked. Pip was still too terrified of her to enter this part of the manor unaccompanied, which left-

"Yes, Alucard. What is it?" She asked, still too calm to really care. She heard soft steps padding across the carpet to her side, but there seemed to be two too many feet in the room. She turned halfway and cast her eyes to the door, but her view was unobstructed. Then her eyes fell to a space just a little closer to the carpet. She smiled, not realizing that the previous smile had fallen from her face with the interruption of her idle thinking.

There was a massive shadow with four paws and six red eyes staring up at her expectantly. It came closer to her and nudged her hip, eyes blinking at her with a very open expression.

"If I didn't know any better, I would assume this was an apology." She spoke, looking down at the hell-hound. The red eyes narrowed.

"Of course it isn't." She said, resting her free hand on the top of the shaggy head. The hound sat beside her feet and rested his chin on the windowsill, his nose close to the crystal ashtray. There was a long silence as Integra was left to recall the previous arguments that had passed between them in the past few days, and as she did, the smile faded again. Her hand on his head became a little gentler, and when she spoke, her voice was softer.

"I have been neglecting you." She said.

The hound just huffed in an annoyed manner. Integra smiled just a little as she stroked the top of his head in a fond way, like one would a favorite and beloved pet. She patted his head once more and walked to her desk, gathering pens and papers and taking them to the end of the couch, setting her work on an end table and slipping off her shoes. She curled her feet beneath her in the way she used to when she would do her homework in this very spot, back when her father was alive. Once she had settled into the couch and arranged her work in the most efficient manner, she patted the cushion beside her, cigar and tea forgotten in the windowsill. The hell-hound turned, seemingly being pulled from a deep reverie, and his eyes brightened when he saw what she wanted. He bounded over and pounced on the couch beside her, resting his head on her thigh and looking up at her with glowing ember eyes. She smiled and placed her left hand on his head again, petting and soothing him and showing him that she was repentant without being truly so for forgetting to pay appropriate attention to her most loyal of servants. Her work went on as usual with her right hand signing and amending documents, and her left appeasing her wolfish pet.

As the evening wore on and the sun hid deep within the forest, Alucard's contentment and relaxation got the best of him, leaving him to fall asleep in Integra's lap. He melted back into his more familiar form, his long hair falling across her lap and his pale skin making hers seem all the more dark. When she realized that she no longer had a dog to share the couch with, she briefly debated waking him so she could go back to her desk. However, Alucard was notoriously hard to wake up, so she simply ruffled his hair once more before resting her hand on the white silk of his shirt, her hand just above his silent heart. This was relaxing in itself, she thought as she felt the cool silk warm with the heat from her own hand. A fingertip traced a button as she continued her work, a small smile finding her lips for the fourth time that evening.

***** Alrighty, children, it's time for shout-outs! (finally) I apologize for this chapter and the previous one being so short, but it IS finals week here at my university, so I was a bit busy trying to keep my head above water. But enough about me... On to my responses!

Black_Diamond07: Not too sure how much we'll see them talking about August, but we'll have her talk with August about him soon enough. If they date, Alucard's gonna be a topic of interest, don't you think? ;)

gacr36: I do apologize for the shortness, but I'm glad you still enjoyed it. That's my sole purpose here, to amuse and distract everyone from the suckyness that is reality. :D

Zorin: We'll see how enraged he really is. I see all those years of being locked in a dungeon (both in his human life and in his vampiric un-life) giving him a touch of patience. Besides, all she's doing is getting distracted by a new shiny. He knows he's the shinier of the two and all she has to do is get tired of the new one. ;)

BeautifullyBroken86: He did get a little Gollum-esque, didn't he? But there's that touch of possessive madness down beneath all those twisted layers of fun and darkness. Go figure. And this scene was in the works before you mentioned the tension relief. I hope it's enough to suffice for now. I'll be glad to add in a touch more fluff between them if you'd like though. Ask Zorin, I love me some fluff. :D

RoxyMoron: I thought it was cute too. :D Who didn't want a big badass monster to play fetch with after school? Or was that just me? … yeah... just me... :"

And there we go. A whole other chapter up and finished. Keep the reviews rolling in. It's summer and I now have decent internet at my house. This should mean that I can write and publish chapters quicker. Looking forward to hear from all of you! 3 Nyxe