Youthful Indiscretion Read online

three days and never noticed, while five minutes would have seemed like five hours. As such, he felt surprised when he heard what sounded like a soft click, and one of the corners showed some give. He tried to push it back into place, to figure out how he had loosened it, but it wouldn't stay; it kept sliding back out, as if on its own. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle at the thought, but nothing happened as he held it and watched. After a few minutes he grasped the piece and extracted it. It slid against the other pieces along fluted slots, and when he had pulled it free he saw two oiled pegs attached to one edge. Its inside surfaces and those of the other pieces still in place were highly polished, like mirrors. He examined the rest of the block, and saw what looked like three more pieces attached to a central core; it had a pair of small holes, into which the piece's pegs could be inserted.

  He smiled at his success, inadvertent as it was. The block was a challenge, more so than he originally thought, and he felt a creeping excitement come over him. He couldn't wait to work on the next piece.

  Even as he gripped it, he heard sound emanate from the block, like that of a toy music box. It was a simple, repetitive tune, predictable, and so trite as to be almost boring, and yet there was a nobility about its character that made it seem majestic despite all that. It didn't last long, but while it played he sat listening in rapture, oblivious to everything except the music.

  It stopped, and at the same moment there came a knock at the door to the outer hall. He jumped, shocked, and grabbed up the block and the piece.

  "My Lord?" It was Aelfraed. His voice sounded muffled, but unmistakable.

  He ran for the linen chest, pushed open the top, and shoved the puzzle down to the bottom as Aelfraed knocked and called out again. He dropped the lid and scurried to the desk to shut off the light when the door opened.

  "Are you all right, Master Henry?" He used that form of address whenever he wanted to emphasize that he played the authoritative adult instead of the manservant.

  "Yes, Aelfraed, I'm fine. I just got up to go to the bathroom and get a drink of water."

  "I see, but why use the light at your desk rather than by your bedside?"

  "Because, I...needed to check something in my homework, a mistake I thought I'd made. It was nothing."

  "Forgive my asking, but why now instead of in the morning?"

  "I was already up, and I wanted to have it finished before tomorrow. Mother and I have plans."

  He smiled and nodded. "Very well, My Lord, but you should be in bed, otherwise you'll be too tired to do anything tomorrow."

  "I'm turning in now. Good night, Aefraed."

  "Good night, My Lord." He backed away and closed the door.

  Henry switched off the light and went back to bed. As he snuggled in, he realized what must have happened. The lights in the outside hall had been turned down, which made the weak light coming from under the bedroom door more obvious. The guard then alerted Aelfraed.

  He would have to figure out someway of defeating that for the next time.

  Vlad prowled along the inside perimeter of the security fence that surrounded the house grounds in his black dog form, looking for breaches or other security problems. The Human guards were very efficient, thanks to Giles Holt; he didn't expect to find anything, though he could look where and in a manner no Human could. He had no concern over tripping one of the claymore or bounding mines, or a flame fougasse projector, because his current form was as insubstantial as fog. Nor would the sensors pick him up, except for the night vision cameras; he made no sound for the ultra-sensitive microphones to hear, and he put off no heat for the infrared cameras to see. Still, who knew what diabolically clever device Dr. Mabuse might whip up that could make him stand out like a candle on a black night?

  He made patrols like that as often as he could, not only to protect the Van Helsing Bloodline, but also because there were paranormal threats only he could detect and deal with. Humans were particularly vulnerable at night, whereas his powers were exulted during the hours of darkness. Though he felt nothing but contempt for the vast majority of Humanity, being as they were little better than sheep to a wolf like himself, there were several on the estate that he felt an obligation to protect if he could, Men and Women with the Will to transcend the blandness of Mankind and rise to heights of greatness few could imagine much less reach. One such was Sir Differel. Even if she were not of the Bloodline he would protect her with his life. Her son, Henry, on the other hand...he had not decided about him. As a Van Helsing, he commanded his loyalty and servitude, but he had not yet proven he was worthy to command him. Not that that mattered to his Oaths, but it mattered to him. He genuinely liked the boy, and he hoped he would one day make him proud.

  He slowed, as he felt a strange presence enter the estate. He stopped, swiveled his ears, and cocked his head. There was something; he couldn't determine what, exactly, but...

  Then he heard it: a short rondo of banal but sublime music. He assumed his normal form and slowly turned completely around in place. It was too faint to identify, and then it ceased, preventing him from pinpointing its location, but it had been real, of that he had no doubt. He had no idea what it signified, but the memory of it disturbed him, despite its prosaic tune.

  He shuddered; he had a feeling like someone walking over his grave.

  Henry kept working on the block throughout the week, when time permitted. During the day he went to school in Downham Market; in the afternoons he trained, while evenings were reserved for study and homework. He barely had any free time, except for a couple of hours spaced widely apart. Nonetheless he made time, after his mother retired if necessary.

  Unfortunately, the next two pieces proved more difficult to remove than the first. It was as if the puzzle had been designed to get harder rather than easier. He didn't remove the second piece until Monday, though he figured the time he spent with Mother on Sunday had something to do with that. In the morning she boated with him up the River Great Ouse to the Wash near King's Lynn for some fishing. They returned in time for Sunday roast, then went horseback riding around the estate. As she promised, she took him on a tour of the motte-and-bailey, and even showed him the entrance to a secret tunnel that connected to an opening beneath the secret stairwell under the Catacombs. Only four other people knew of it, which didn't include Aelfraed, Mr. Holt, or Mrs. Widget, or even Aunt Eile or Sunny, so he could use it in an emergency if necessary. Upon their return to the house they play some billiards followed by a video game, and had high tea while watching Avatar 2. Finally she put him to bed and read to him before she retired as well. He got up when he figured she was asleep, stuffed a towel against the bottom of his door, and worked on the puzzle in bed, but found he could only maintain the energy for about an hour before fatigue forced him to quit.

  But when he removed the second piece the following night, he heard a different version of the music from two nights before.

  He wasn't able to remove the third piece until Friday night. While he had only short periods of time to work on it, it still proved to be the most difficult piece yet. When he finally succeeded in extracting it, the music was again a different version of the two previous tunes, and while pleasing, he had hoped it might be even better given how hard that piece had been. Still, as far as he could tell, he was down to just two pieces, but he was somewhat disappointed that solving the puzzle was not as exciting as he had expected it to be. It had become like a chore, and he just wanted to get it done so he could forget about it.

  The next day being Saturday, the start of the weekend meant he would spend most of his time training, but because of that, and in recognition of his lack of free time during the week, he was given the morning off to do whatever he wanted. Eile and Sunny would also be coming for a visit in the afternoon, so he could finally make it up to them for blowing them off the previous weekend. Of course, it also meant that Sunday's training would be even more grueling than normal, to make up for the time lost last Sunday, but he didn't mind. Once they wer
e into the next week, things would get back to normal.

  As much as he wanted to, however, he couldn't spend the morning holed up in his room working on the puzzle. Someone was bound to check on him. Instead, after breakfast he went to the Game Room and played video games until Aelfraed came to inform him lunch was ready. He followed him to the Sunroom and felt surprised to see his mother with Eile and Sunny waiting for him.

  After hugging his surrogate aunts, they sat down to eat. "Henry," his mother said, "I wanted to let you know something has come up. I am canceling your session with Dr. Mabuse, I need her to perform an analysis on some samples one of our agents has collected, and I am postponing your session with Aelfraed until after your training with Holt."

  "But nothin's gonna stop us from havin' fun tanight!" Eile said.

  "Darn right!" Sunny said. "We've gotta surprise for you: a sneak preview release of Resident Evil: Resurrection!"

  Eile glared at her. "Way ta spoil it, ya butthead!"

  "No, that sounds wonderful!" he said. Sunny was always doing that, but it didn't matter, since she tended to wait until at least the last minute even if it was premature.

  "Well," his mother said, "be that as it may, Holt won't call for you until two. I'm sure you can find