Maddie always hated the cold touch of intangibility. It froze her to the core and always left the scent of the supernatural that she had to groom away. The only time Vlad had ever intentionally used it fully on her was when she'd gotten stuck behind the washing machine as a kitten, and she'd repaid him for it by leaving a long scar down the back of his hand.

But this wasn't just a touch. It wasn't the phasing through of dirty sheets she refused to get off of, or a hand reaching into her stomach to retrieve the block of rat poison an ex-gardener had the misfortune to leave by the mint bush. This aching sense of ice and nothingness lingered long enough to wake her from her nap. She looked around for Vlad, ears laid flat against her skull.

But it wasn't Vlad. He had left that morning in a rage, racing out the door without so much as feeding her.

In fact, she wasn't the only thing intangible. The bed, the floor, the room. She could feel it in her whiskers – the entire mansion was intangible!

Maddie stood, arching her back and puffing her tail. Whatever had the power to do something like this was certainly something she didn't want to encounter.

And then, just as suddenly as it started, it was over.

Maddie leapt from the bed, paws tingling as feeling – warmth of flowing blood, softness of carpet, cool touch of A/C – returned all at once. Her tail switched, and she kept her fur on end to try to scare away whatever was out there. The slightly acrid stench of otherworldlyness clung to everything, and she couldn't stand it.

She slunk under the bed, ready to wait for Vlad to come home and comfort her.

Night fell, and Vlad still wasn't back.

She had groomed herself under the bed, until her fur was free from the smell of the unknown and lay flat against her. She kept her paws under her body, and her tail wrapped around her. Her stomach was growling, but she didn't want to stray into the rest of the house yet.

It still reeked of intangibility.

Maddie fell asleep at some point. When a ray of sunshine lay across the floor in front of her, she blinked and stretched. She was starting to cramp, and she was getting very hungry. She crept to the edge of the bed, peering out.

There was no ghost out there, waiting.

Vlad wasn't out there either.

She slunk out into the room, whiskers twitching and tail switching. Her ears swiveled back and forth, listening for any out of place noises.

The mansion was completely empty, without even the bravest of mice to scratch in the walls.

Maddie remained close to the ground, nosing her way out of the cat door. The hallway was devoid of life, and whatever remained of the massive intangibility seemed to have settled. It no longer hung in the air like a cloud of dust, but instead clung to the furniture and the carpet. All her usual marking spots would have to be redone, rubbed over and over until her cheek was numb.

There had been times, usually not often but more recently for some reason, when Vlad would simply appear in the basement. He would forget to greet her and hold her and give her cuddles. He would sullenly walk around her, ignoring her pleading meows for food and affection.

It wouldn't be until late on those nights, when he collapsed in bed that he would seem to remember Maddie, and giver her scratches and treats until she curled up next to him and fell asleep. She was usually mad at him the next day, but he would cuddle her and boop her on the nose until she was purring again.

Right now, anger was furthest from her mind. She was still scared from whatever had happened, and hunger had made her brave enough to try and track him down.

She took the staircase one step at a time, pausing and looking around for whatever threat might have invaded.

But there was still nothing.

She leaned against the banister at the final step. Her ears were perked forward, and her body shook as she breathed deeply, trying to find the scent of Vlad.

The basement was ruined. Machines were destroyed, tables were flipped. Shiny green ectoplasm splattered across the floor and dripped off the walls. Broken glass covered the floor, and what few wires that were still plugged in were sparking. Even the swirling green portal was broken, the doors dented and scratched, revealing the dirt behind them.

Maddie didn't want to risk cutting up her paws searching. She meowed, long and lonesome, calling out for Vlad. Sometimes, he just needed to be reminded that she was there.

But Vlad never came back.

She knew that the food was behind the large door in the kitchen, and she sat in front of it. Her tail was wrapped around her paws, the tip thumping against the tile. Vlad had never installed a cat door on it, and he was the only one that could turn the knob.

But he wasn't in the kitchen.

She turned to her water dish and drank until she was full.

Maddie explored the entire mansion. Every door that was left cracked, she nudged open. She squeezed into every room, even the ones that were dusty and waiting for the maids to freshen up.

Nothing had been disturbed, nothing had been touched. Vlad's scent was beginning to get stale.

She crawled under the bed and slept.

Maddie wasn't fast enough to hunt, not that there were any animals left. She'd chased them all away a long time ago.

But the maids were supposed to show up today. She knew their schedule and she waited in the foyer. Most of them didn't care for cats, and they shooed her out of the way to dust or they turned on the vacuum to scare her. But one of them always scritched her behind the ears, and he always carried treats in his pocket.

She sat and she waited, ears twitching, straining for any sound that might come from the destroyed basement.

The maids never showed.

Maddie watched the sunlight crawl across the floor, bright and warm stretching out into a long orange. The heat of the day passed and night fell, bringing with it the chill of night. She left her post once, to drink until she was full and use the overflowing litter box, but even then Maddie knew she wouldn't have missed them coming in.

Even as the moon rose, Maddie waited for someone to show.

The water dish was dry.

Maddie licked at the bowl, tongue scraping against the stainless steel. Her collar jingled merrily, metal tapping on metal and making her ears twitch. Thirst was overriding hunger, and she kneaded against the tile. She knew where water came from, and she was tired of waiting for Vlad to come back.

She leapt onto the counter, padding over to the sink. The knob was cold on her nose as she nudged against it, but she ignored the feeling. It wasn't as bad as intangibility.

It took a few minutes, longer than she would have bothered with otherwise, but soon the sound of rushing water broke the silence. She leaned over into the basin, lapping desperately at the stream from the faucet. She didn't bother trying to turn it off when she jumped down.

She would only come back later when she was hungry again.

She groomed while she waited. She licked her paws and wiped the dust from her eyes. She chewed at her thighs and the base of her tail.

She coughed up most of her fur, her exposed skin growing cold.

The stench of her own waste piling up had overtaken the mansion.

She couldn't smell Vlad anymore.

Maddie no longer wandered the mansion. She didn't have the strength. The lights Vlad had left on had gone out a few days ago, the steady stream of water cut off without warning.

The maids had never showed to clean.

A man waked up to the mansion, once, and Maddie had screamed into the window, trying to get his attention. But he just nailed something to the door and left.

She tried to groom, but the feel of her rough tongue on skin stretched taught over her ribs hurt, and she bled sometimes. Her vision blurred, and she blinked slowly, trying to get any moisture into her eyes.

She padded into Vlad's room. It was the only place she that still held his scent. She used the last bit of strength to leap onto the mattress.

She curled up at the foot of the bed, tucking her nose into her paws.

And she couldn't wait any longer.