Swept Into the Darkness Excerpt

About Author LaTaeya Lane:

Years of exposure within the writing and publishing world have made a lasting impact on Author LaTaeya Lane. Writing since she was seven years old, Lane began jotting down phrases and themes later turning them into poems and short stories. Writing became such a passion throughout her youth that she became the Junior and Senior editor of her High school newspaper. She wrote her first novel at age sixteen but was not seeking publication at that time in her life. Lane entered several creative writing contests during her early years of writing and won a few of them. Always captivated by the supernatural and elements of fantasy, Lane was inspired to write a series of books that focused on going beyond the boundaries of life and imagination. The angel vampire fantasy "Swept into the Darkness" is Lane's first published book in a series called "Chronicles of the Celestial." Lane completed a degree in social Sciences and currently works to support the education of special needs middle school students. Lane resides in the state of New Jersey with her husband Leo and is working on writing a publishing the second book in the series.

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Excerpt from book:

Ever since the car accident I have excruciating headaches. I lunged off the sofa and headed for the kitchen drawer that I kept my medication in. I was on prescription pain killers. I also took sleeping pills, and sometimes needed to take anti depression pills. I haven’t needed to take the depression pills in a long time. I tried to deter the pain from gaining force. If it didn’t, I was going to have to cancel my date with Christine and go straight to bed. The pain was almost blinding at times and literally feels like a hammer is

banging inside of my brain. Every time my head pounds I am reminded of the worse day of my life.

I had just got into town from a weekend skiing trip in Aspen with some old girl friends and of course Christine. My dad Samuel London had picked me up from the airport. It was mid-winter and my flight was delayed for several hours due to a terrible snow storm that hit the area. My dad was a surgeon that worked in the emergency room at Milford General Hospital. He had worked a thirty hour straight shift at the hospital; the staff was low because of the storm so he decided to stick around to help out whenever he could. So my plane landed pretty late. I offered to take a cab in, but dad insisted that he would pick me up. We were both pretty tired but it never occurred to me that dad was not in any kind of shape to drive. It was four forty five on a Thursday morning. It was dark, and freezing. Sleet came down pretty hard, and made the roads very slick. It looked like my dad was doing fine and I always felt safe when he was behind the wheel. Mom was

up waiting for us to come home. I had spoken to her before we left the airport and she told me that she would have some hot coco ready after we arrived home. The ride was long and I occasionally nodded on and off. The sound of skidding tires and the sudden swerving motion abruptly alerted me to wake up. I glanced in the direction of the driver’s seat and noticed that my Dad’s head was slumped down over the steering wheel. His glasses were crooked and his eyes were closed.

“Dad! Dad! Wake up!” I yelled. I yanked off my seatbelt to shake him with force. The car was going out of control. His head bobbed up and down and his eyes lazily open and closed. I grabbed the steering wheel and tried to scoot over as close as I could towards him. Trying to feel the break with my foot I moved it as fast as I could. The car was going at such an extreme speed and bumped and swayed through the light traffic. Then the speed intensified. I kept yelling for my dad, and then everything went black.

The bed was a mess after forty five minutes of restlessness. I read for a little while and before I even realized it my eyes grew heavy and I drifted off to sleep. The hours felt like seconds as I felt my body light and motionless. I saw myself floating above my sleeping body. Appearing in a heavily wooded area, I was wearing a black gown. My hair was curly and shiny. My feet were bare and my skin was soft and milky. I stood still being captured by the winter’s atmosphere. My toes melted into the snow as I slowly moved. Looking up; the sky was clearly bright and the blue illuminated stars sparkled in the skies. The trees were tall and thick and covered with the soft fresh powdery snow. I pulled up my gown a little and saw

that my cast still clung tightly onto my ankle. It started to itch in a place where I could not obviously reach. I became annoyed but there was nothing I could do. Pain flowed though me, I flinched at the shock of it. My arm clung to my body secure in its sling. In the distance I saw some kind of creature descending from the heavens. It was a man I think, emerging from the skies. He got closer and closer. I froze not taking my eyes off of him. The man wore a gold breast plate which was the first thing I noticed about him. His hair was long, straight and dark like mine. Silver sparkly wings surfaced from his back, and his eyes gleamed silver. He hovered over me, and his gold Roman style boots touched the snow. His strong jawline could cut stone. I knew his face. It was the face of my childhood friend Angelo. He looked so different. The Roman Gladiator look made a rush of heat flow down into me. I embraced him and called his name.

“What are you doing here, in my dream?” I touched the side of his strong forearm.

“This is who I am. I wanted to show you. You have been hurt and I have come to heal you and ease your pain. You have a deep pain that has cast a shadow upon you.” He spoke softly and took my left hand. I smiled.

“What are you? You look like you came from a different time or something?” I brought my voice down to a whisper even though there was not a soul in sight.

“I am an angel.” He closed his eyes and looked down. I glanced up and saw a brilliant light encircle us both. I basked in the overwhelming feeling of warmth that came over my body. I was in another place, a place that I’d never been in before. Somewhere out of this world