The Zoo

The Zoo

Chapter 1

Gracie loved her father. As a dad he was awesome- brilliant at reading stories, with his big hands turning the pages of her fairy-tales when she tucked herself under cotton sheets and the warm weight of her kitten on her chest. His voice was as rough as the scratch of his beard on her cheek when he kissed her goodnight.
And he was a policeman which gave a little lift to her chin when she went to school.
Her father the hero.
In the small Scottish village everyone knew him. And everyone loved him. But no-one at school got to call him "Dad." Little favors right?
A blessing and a curse.
"You're Mike's girl?" It went from getting a couple of extra sweets at the Newsagents to being really annoying come her teenage years where her flirtations were noted as well documented as her GCSE results.
Not many people left the village. Families could trace their lineage back through the tomes of birth and marriage records that still resided in the local church.
It was quiet, it was safe.
But up on the hill was the zoo. A compound that in which the left-overs of a failed enterprise resided.There were stories about a crazy man who owned the ruins of the castle nearby which was obviously rubbish and the re-introduction of wolves which would have been more plausible had they actually been let out. Occasionally the wolves howled, but no-one really took much notice, aside from the few kids that tried to break in. Apparently there were electric fences and since there were easier places to hang out and get high, nothing came of those explorations. Gracie asked a couple of the old regulars that she knew at the pub why the people that owned the place didn't just ship the animals off to another zoo where they could be taken better care of.
Talk about shutting down a conversation.
She left Scotland, went to University in Reading, fell in love, fell out of love, had tragic haircuts, became a police officer more by accident than design, and came home when her mother died.
Apparently although she had changed the village hadn't.
Even with the polite "I'm so sorry's" she could still hear the howls out in the darkness.
"Dad?" At her Mother's wake she asked the question that had always been an itch that she couldn't scratch. "That Zoo. Shouldn't all the wolves be dead by now?"
"Yes." Her father left the wake with her without any apologies in his aging Range Rover and drove them up the hills. "If they were wolves then they would have been long dead. I'm sorry, it was borne of necessity you see. Do you remember that song I used to sing to you when you were little?"
Gracie did. It was as much a part of her as how her name sounded rolling off another's tongue.
"The wolf at the door,
the bite in the night,
It's up to us to put it right."
"We keep the werewolves there on the full moon, and the vampires when they need it."
Gracie thought that she should laugh, but her kind father wasn't smiling .
"Now of all times this isn't funny."
"I'm not joking. Stick with me and do as I tell you."
It didn't take long to get up the hill. The journey was bumpy and neither of them spoke.
The zoo wasn't much to look at. Utilitarian, Gracie thought. Even the bright moon and stars couldn't pretty it up. Big boxy building where tickets must have been bought. Then huge re-enforced pens. There were dark things in there that sounded heavy. In the coldness of the night her breath mingled with that of what looked like a giant dog's muzzle between the steel links.
"That's Callum," Gracie's father told her. " keep your hands in your pockets, it's not a grope that he's after this time of the month."
"Callum from the pub?" Gracie put her hands in her pockets, because her Dad had told her to, and whatever it was penned a few metres away bore no resemblence to the skinny kid that worked at the local shop and was terrible at talking to girls.
"He got bit." father said shortly." It's safer to keep them contained this way."
Like you could answer that. She turned away.
In the cage behind her yellow eyes gleamed, and the the man in the cage smiled.
"Bugger off darling, you're a drink not a romance novel plotline."

Chapter 2

"Well I'm not a romance heroine," Gracie retorted. "Also I'm not locked up in a cage like you are."
"It's a pen, not a cage," the man with yellow eyes answered. Because yeah, massive difference there.
"Gracie.." Her father's hand on her arm was gentle but firm."Don't talk to the vampires."
Gracie shook his hand off and put her hands back in the pockets of her coat.
"Well apparently it's alright for me to talk to Callum who is now a wolf. You know the whole not talking to strangers thing when I was little? Seriously? I was worried about men who sold ice-cream. Werewolves ? Vampires?"
She glared at the man in the cage, pen whatever.
"Do you know paranoid I was about getting pregnant when I was a teenager? What if I had caught a.." Gracie waved her hand at the man behind the iron bars."You".
"Turning someone into a vampire is a bit more complicated than that.." The man with yellow eyes said. "First you have to drain the blood and then..."
"No." Gracie shut that conversation down with a wave of her hand. "If you aren't all friendly and sparkly then I don't want to know."
"That's Twilight. It's fiction."
"Fine. I'll just chuck a load of glitter on you. This is still messed up."
"It's complicated Gracie." Her Dad didn't attempt to reach out to her again, but shuffled uncomfortably in his boots. "It's damage control. Look." He gestured to a pen that was at the far end of the compound.
There were two wolves circling in the faint light. Eyes yellow and canine teeth bright white.
"Connor and Daphne. They met here."
Yeah alright. The sweet elderly couple that ran the tea -shop were werewolves. Could you catch Lycanthropy via cake? Gracie didn't even know anymore.

"Right. Werewolves and vampires are real." Gracie tried to wrap her head around that bombshell and failed miserably. The wolves which were apparently nice people that she said hello to when she saw them in the Post office, paced with heavy paws and sharp teeth behind their iron bars, and what was apparently a vampire looked far too amused at the situation for her liking.

"Dad you aren't.. one of them?" She asked eventually.
"No!" Her dad looked genuinely surprised.
"He'd make make a rubbish vampire," the man with yellow eyes not so helpfully supplied. "He's a bit square, no style. I'm Danny by the way."
"So not making things better," Gracie snapped. "And you are locked in a cage so you can't talk about style, and Danny is a rubbish name for a vampire."
The man with yellow eyes gave a huff of a laugh. "Sorry love. Dracula was already taken."
He was annoyingly attractive in a lanky, scruffy haired way, Gracie thought. All sharp cheekbones and snarky mouth. But nope, she thought. She'd had terrible choices in men before and those at least had just sexted ex-girlfriends when she'd dated them, they wouldn't potentially rip her throat out.
"What is this?" she said eventually.
"Shut it, Danny, that's my daughter you are talking to." Kevin Lochlan turned to his daughter. "Remember when Silas Kenyon started the zoo? Way back when you were little?"
Gracie had a vague memory of it being in the papers and being taken there when she was about six. There were penguins. Not this... Whatever this was. There was a bit of a scandal when the reclusive millionaire had dropped off the map, but most people thought he'd just overdosed or fell off a boat somewhere while banging a supermodel.
"sort of."
"He made a mistake when it came to the breeding stock. The whole re-introducing wolves got a bit mixed up and there was a werewolf in the shipment from Russia. She got a bit loose and bit a few people."
"A bit loose and bit a few people?" Gracie was fairly sure that several synapses in her brain had promptly fried.
"Connor, Daphne and Callum. It was unfortunate." Her dad shrugged. "Oh and Silas is in the last pen."
There was a big black wolf in a cage that Gracie could hardly make out in the dim lighting. It looked hungry and she decided not to venture further towards it.
"It's not usually a problem," her Dad said hesitantly. "I just get everyone up here for the full moon. Locked up safe so it's not an issue. Come morning everything is back to normal. I mean it costs a bit with the meat to keep everyone calm but if you go to Aldi they discount the beef so it all works out."
"You go to the supermarket to buy meat for werewolves and put it in the fridge next to my yogurt?" Gracie blinked in disbelief.
"Oh no," her father quickly reassured her. "You always keep fresh meat separate from everything else, I put it
 in the freezer. The meat in the fridge is just for us."
"Ok." Safest way to respond to that.Right . "So what's your story Danny? How do vampires work into this situation, and by the way dad, if there are blood packets in the freezer I'm not sure that I want an explanation."
"It's complicated."
Gracie thought about touching the the bars between them and thought better of it. The pen was dark, so was his hair. She wanted to touch that too.And that was such a bad idea.
"How complicated?"
"You can get anything if you want it enough".
Well yeah, talk about a non answer.
"So what do you do? Mug people and stab them with a syringe to drain their blood or something? "
"I'm a vampire not an asshole." Even in the dark, Danny's eyes flashed with genuine indignation. "I have a mutual agreement with a couple of people. Blood for cash, it's a lot healthier than dealing drugs."

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Prophecy.

When Penelope Kenyon was six years old she was told that she was special.
It did not come as a huge surprise; after all don't all six year olds take for granted that such compliments are their due?
She continued playing with her dolls, and if there weren't many other children around to play with in the huge country
estate that her parents had moved to, well that was alright. The nice men in the red robes that wandered the halls were kind to her,
and she even had her own puppy.
For all intents and purposes it was an idyllic childhood.
Until she realised her own purpose.
Drip fed into her subconcious via her governess Mrs Stix. A lady of stern countenance and an affinity for black dresses that in
Penelope's view looked singuarly uncomfortable.
Mrs Stix was quite stern and had an obsession with mathematics that Penelope certainly did not share.  But she also had picture
books of the Amazon river,  the great African plains and the World Below.
Penelope dreamed of seeing all those places.  Perhaps to catch a glimpse of a huge anaconda, or perhaps ride an elephant on safari.
Perhaps she could even pet Cerberus if she took some really big dog treats down to the underworld.
So she learned and she played, and sometimes played tricks on the Guardians of the One who all looked the same and whose silken
cloaks whispered along the stone hallways.
On her sixteenth birthday her mother sat her down on her bed and told her of the prophecy. Rolling up Penelope's sleeve to reveal the
star shaped birthmark on her forearm, she tapped it gently.
"This means that you've been chosen, love," she said.  "You of all the girls on Earth."
"Chosen for what?" She hadn't understood - both her mum and dad had moles and little birthmarks - so did Tanya who worked in the
Kitchens and Old Davy who did the cleaning. What was different about hers?
"I'll show you." Her mother led her away, up to the higher rooms and still  higher too, up the spiral staircase that she was absolutely not
allowed to go near. The thrill of the forbidden battled with her curiosity, until her mother unlocked a big wooden door studded with silver.
The room itself was circular, pale stone glowing in the light of several sconces upon the walls.  In the middle of the room a glass case
held a yellowed piece of parchment, and it was that that her mother led her to.
"Your destiny, daughter."  Penelope's mother stared at the bit of paper reverntly.  "The child that bears the mark.  The one who was born
on the sixth moon when the river runs red. The one who is pure in both heart and body  She will be Minos, Judger of the dead's bride,
and will blaze a trail through the darkness of Hades."
"Hades?" Penelope struggled to get her mind around the words her mother said as though they were perfectly logical. "But I can't go and
Live in Hades, not unless I'm dead. Mrs Styx told me that."  Outrage shot through her. "I'm not going to let someone kill me so I can live there,
and I'm definately not going to marry some ancient bloke that I've never even met!"
"You don't have a choice dear," her mother grit out. "Do you know how many young women, demi gods and demons would  kill to be in your place?"
"Let one of them have him then!" Penolope yelled.  "I'm not doing it."
"Penelope." Her mother closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "If you don't fulfil the prophecy then your soul is forfiet. You know what that means."
Penelope did.  "I hate you," she spat," before fleeing back down the staircase and slamming her bedroom door behind her.
She managed two days of throwing herself in various pity poses on the bed while weeping and ignoring any offerings of food, drink or placation,
reallising that if she starved herself  to death then she'd end up in the underworld anyway.
Washing her face and combing her hair she set off to find her father.
As usual he was in his study, engrossed in a book that engulfed the table and smelled of mould.
"Dad?"
"Penelope!" his relief was palpable.  "How are you sweetling - we've been so worried!  I know that this all must have come as quite a shock, but..."
She gave him her best impression of her mother's glare.
He promptly shut up.
"Look," Penelope said firmly.  "I'm not remotely happy about any of this. But since apparently I have to go along with this whole prophecy nonsense
I'm willing to play along and be a good girl - I'll even smile at the wedding.  I want two things in return though."
"And what would they be?" her father asked cautiously.
"I want to meet my intended husband", she grimaced at the word, "at least a couple of times before the wedding."
Her father looked a bit dubious.  "I'm not sure..."
"It would be the best thing for everyone," Penelope argued. "We'll both know what to expect and I'll be a lot less likely to make an idiot of myself
at the wedding ceremony if he tells me what's expected of me."
"You have a point, he admitted.  "And the other thing?"
"I still have untill the solstice right? That's six months away. If I'm going to spend the rest of my life underground with nothing but death and darkness
then I want to see a bit off the world first."
When her father opened his mouth to object, Penelope crossed the room and sat at his feet, looking up at him imploring.
"I don't mean going far, and of course with guards, but how can I understand death if I can't understand the living? I just want to watch, maybe talk to
a girl my age - see someone go the Post office.  At least I'll have something to talk about that Minos might find interesting."
"I never was one to refuse you," he sighed. "I'll see what I can do.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

And so it was that Penelope discovered a taste of freedom, albeit in little sips at a time.
She learned what money was and was inordinately pleased when she counted out the amount of money for a chocolate biscuit called a "Kit Kat", and
even bought a newspaper (that she tucked under her coat and read in the forest later - regretfully discarding it later).  She grew to care for Xander and
Danos her guards. The former golden haired and with a playful sense of humour that he kept hidden from most, the latter brooding and dark eyed.
They both accomanied her to the few visits to her betrothed, where she learned that for someone who spent his time passing judgement on the
dead he was pleasant company and they had a surprising amount of things in common.
The four of them became their own little cabal, until finally it was the night of the solsticace.
In the great hall the candles were lit, illuminating the stained glass windows and turning the Guardians of the One into blood red shadows.
Penelope stood barefoot on the flagstones, shivering slightly in her gauzy white dress, a ring of white roses garlending her blonde hair.  It
was not the cold, however that gave her goosebumps, but rather what was to happen next.
She was well aware of her parents garbed in ceremonial robes stood behind her, and wondered what they were thinking.
There was a sudden tectonic shift under her feet and a shimmer in the air that seemed to raise and then settle the entire building. Minos, judger
of the dead strode forward in a cloud of black mist, his purple cloak billowing around him, his eyes flashing as he strode towards his bride.
"Penelope," he said in a low rumble, before bowing.
"My Lord," She replied with a dainty curtsey.
The Guardians as one sank to their knees as the High Priest came forward, a golden circlet intricately inlaid with rubies in his hands. With a bow
he handed it over.  "And so it is time to claim your consort."
"Indeed," Minos boomed. "Danos, come forward".
Penelope gave her dashing dark haired guard's arm a squeeze as he came forward, and he gave her a peck on the cheek before bowing his
head and accepting the crown to be placed on his head by the diety that looked at him with utter adoration.
There was utter silence in the Great Hall, but the air of bewilderment was so thick that you could cut it with a misericord.
"My Lord," The High Priest stuttered.. "The prophecy...?)
"Oh it's alright, no need to worry," Penelope said cheefully, I've sorted all that out - and about time too. "Go and have a look, I've tip-exed out the
bits that we didn't like. Honestly, about time too - have you never heard of equal rights?)
"Tip-exed out the bits you didn't like?" The High Priest said faintly.  "The prophecy is supposed to be sacred, the virgin innocent.." his voice faltered.
"There's nothing in the annals about Tip-ex being used to alter documents -  the term does not belong in the annals of the underworld, but since its signed by
the chosen one on the upper, the alteration is legally binding," Minos said haughtily.  "Besides, that is no maid." He gave Penelope a wink.
"Sorry," Penelope said aplogetically, turning to look at her stunned parents.  "But you really shouldn't have given me such good looking bodyguards."
Glancing at Xander who moved down from the alter steps to stand her, she took his hand.
"It's ok, mum Penelope said reassuringly, patting her mother's arm.  "We  used protection, and you're far more likely to get grandkids from him than
Minos - look at him with his purple cape.  He's gayer than a rainbow of unicorns."
"I thought that you were going to use your time to learn about the world..." Her father looked as though he was about to faint.
"And I did!" Penelope beamed.  "Demon Google - it's brilliant. I'm thinking of becoming a vet.  You know spend some time up here and some time
in the Underworld. There can't be that much difference between Hell hounds and Labrodors right?"
"Penelope?" Minos's voice was amused but firm.
"Right. OK." Penelope gave her bemused parents each a kiss on the cheek. "I said I'd held Danos and Minos settle in, and Xander is, umm going
to help. I'll send you an email.  Or a raven. I don't think they have Skype in Hades."
With a quick black swirl of smoke they were gone.
In the hall there was absolute silence.
"Does anyone know what's happening with the Son of the Volcano child?" the High Priest asked eventually.