The Devil's Tail - The Devil Chronicles Book One - ROUGH DRAFT

Chapter Eleven

He crawled up the back of the house without making a sound. It was getting easier and only took two kicks with a wide gait. He pulled at the window, but it was iced over. He dug his feet deeper into the wall as he lifted his right hand to soften the ice into water. It dripped down the back paneling, past his knees. He wrapped his hands onto the pane to pull himself up through the window. A patch of ice was still in the corner of the pane. Once his hand brushed over it, it slipped down and away from the window, making it out of reach. His hands fell from the window as his toes loosened from the wood. He began falling through the air, flailing his arms before he reached the ground. He attempted to move the snow that was beneath him to make a more hefty pile to fall on, but his butt hit the hard dirt. His head flung backward. He moved a bit of snow with his mind to act as a neck pillow. His head buried itself under the snow. His body clashed with the ground in a loud thud.

His clothes were soaked through with water from a puddle that was beneath his torso.

Marty flew open her window and looked to her left to see Levi sprawled across her yard, his limbs twitching. She hissed his name, but before she could act, the hinges creaked on her parents' door. She yanked her head around to the sound. She leaned out the window to try to get his attention, waving her hands forward.

The back porch door yanked open.

Levi finally looked up and shot into action. His head spun as he got up. He steadied his hands and legs before retreating a few steps.

An angry John Reiling stomped through the yard. "Who's there!?" He shone a flashlight onto Levi's face.

He shielded his eyes with his arms, but then peeked through, hoping some sort of recognition or humanity would levy the situation.

Marty hung out her window, shaking her head. Her father shone the light over to her. "Dad! Stop it!"

Levi dug his feet into the mud, then lifted his legs to sprint off from the house, lifting snow and water with his hands to flurry in front of him for a moment -only a moment, because too long and it would have been obvious.

"Wait up!" John ran after him, stumbling over his own feet and falling to the ground in front of Marty's window, landing face-first into a puddle.

Marty winced as her father sat up on his elbows, spitting into the ground.

"Dad, are you okay!?"

He glared at her, noting her figure leaning out from the window. "Why didn't you stop him?" he hissed. "Who is he?"

"It was ---"

"Levi. It was Levi." He stood up, dusting off. "Tell me, what he was doing climbing up my house?"

Marty swallowed, her eyes bulging. "He has nowhere to stay."

"And he thinks climbing up my house is okay? That's not how that works."

Diana opened the back door and sprinted toward the two, holding her night robe taut, her hand against her chest. "What's wrong?" she glanced between the two of them, her face flushed and pale.

"You two should come inside and not get a cold." Their teen advised.

"Hmm," he snarled, sucking in the air through his nose. "How do you know him?"

She began to get frantic, waving her arms in the air. "Come inside and I'll tell you everything."

"No, who is he? How do you know him? He's a stranger to me and he's trying to break in. Explain now, Marty!" He yelled.

Meanwhile, Levi was barred against the wood wall, his body pressed flat against it, his breathing rapid and his shoulders tensed. He walked forward, his hands raised to the air. He paced every step gently, one by one, one foot in front of the other. The clouds grew darker and snow began to fall, swirling around his figure as he proceeded away from the wall and turning the corner. It happened slowly as if in slow motion on a DVD player.