Love, Lies & Immortal Ties - Whitby Shadows Series Book 1

Chapter One

I'd never really paid much attention to the opposite sex. Well, that's a lie actually. I dated my childhood crush in secondary school for over a year but that all went disastrously wrong at prom. Ever since then, boys did not exist to me.

Until I moved back to the quaint seaside town of Whitby, in Yorkshire, my home, my birthplace. I moved back there to be with my dad, who had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Him and my mum split when I was six and my school holidays had been filled with trekking up here from the depths of Dorset to visit him for a whole thirteen weeks of the year.

Having just turned eighteen, now free of school, independence ran strong through my veins. The official status of being an adult, in the eyes of the law at least, provided a welcome relief to help break the chains my mum loved to bound me with.

She loved me, I knew that, and she wanted to keep me safe, but there comes a point when it's time for the baby to fly the nest. Being devastated by my dad's tragic news gave me the perfect excuse to cut the apron strings and be with him whilst I could.

After a tearful evening, and an early morning goodbye, I'd driven up to Whitby in just under six hours. Not bad going for a three-hundred-and-fifty-mile trip on congested English roads. Seeing dawn break over the picturesque town was exquisite, the shades of pinks and reds in the morning sky absolutely breath-taking. With acres of rugged wild fields splaying out to my left and right as I headed towards the coast, I sucked in a deep breath of fresh air and felt a sense of vigour spread through my veins.

I couldn't help but think, as the purple topped lavender fields passed me by, that it would be the perfect place to hide a body out here. No one would ever find it. I smirked to myself as my love of all things dark, grisly, and murderous took control of my mind once more. My mum had been concerned at one point about my interest in such subjects, but she'd gradually come to accept it as a healthy intrigue as oppose to the screaming signs of a serial killer in waiting.

Dad owned his own hotel right on the seafront, and I was looking forward to getting stuck in and helping him run his business. I dreaded to think what would happen to his beautiful house once he...my eyes watered. I couldn't even face the fact that one day, soon, he wouldn't be here.

As I pulled into one of the limited car parking spaces behind Dad's house, I dabbed at my eyes, blinking the water away furiously. I thought I'd shed all the tears I could manage last night when my mum insisted on a girly night in with Chinese food, chick flicks, and all manner of sweets. Oh, and three bottles of wine, which by the way, I only managed to drink two glasses of. Needless to say, Mum looked damn awful this morning as she dragged herself from her bed to hug and kiss me goodbye.

Shaking away all sad thoughts, I sucked in a deep breath and told myself to be optimistic and happy. That's all that Dad needed right now, no doom and gloom and waves of tears. I grabbed my humongous suitcases from my boot and looked up at the back of Dad's creamy coloured hotel. It looked like a fresh lick of paint had been done not too long ago. Compared to the dreary looking buildings either side, it stood out like a diamond amongst onyx.

The back door to the kitchen had been left open, which meant Sophie would be cooking and most probably rather hot, bless her. Sophie had lived in Whitby all her life. Her husband had left her many years ago for a pilates instructor and her two boys had both been tragically killed in the line of duty over in Afghanistan. At a loose end, she'd applied to be the cook at Dad's B&B just to give herself something to do. That had been nearly fifteen years ago, and she now also cooked in the evenings too for those guests who requested evening meals.

Joanna was the only other person who worked here. A single mum of two-year-old twin girls, she often brought them to work with her when she couldn't get childcare or, as I suspected, couldn't afford it. Long blonde hair, big brown eyes, and a size zero, I'd told her many times to get herself into modelling, but she was too shy and lacked the confidence to pursue such a career.