Revealed

and jerked his chin in my direction, grinning with a rot-toothed smile. His friend nodded and they started down the stairs.
    Ah, hell.
    I should have hurried toward Twenty-first Street. That was the smart thing to do—the safe thing to do. I almost did, but then I remembered who I was and I got pissed. I wasn’t some weak little kid who people could scare and push around. I had an affinity for all five elements. I was a High Priestess in training. Hell, I was almost a vampyre! Why shouldn’t I be able to be in the park on a Sunday morning and
not
be hassled by anyone?
    Instead of running away I sat back down on the bench. Maybe they’d just walk past, say “morning,” and that would be that. Maybe.
    “Hey, girl, you, uh, got any extra money?” the first guy said as they got to the bottom of the stairs.
    “Yeah, we could use some cash for food,” said the second guy.
    I’d had my face turned away, hoping that they’d walk on by. Now I lifted my chin and looked straight at them. Their eyes widened as they saw my tattoos.
    “Really? In what universe do you think it’s okay for two men to ask a girl, who’s all by herself in a deserted park, for money?” As I spoke I felt my anger heat up again.
    “Hey, what’s it to you?” the guy with the garbage bag said. “You’re a vampyre. It’s not like
we
scare
you.
”
    I knew they thought I was a full vampyre. I knew that made them afraid of me.
    I was glad.
    “So, you’re used to scaring human girls into giving you some cash?” What total jerks!
    The second guy shrugged. “If a girl don’t want to be scared, she shouldn’t be out here alone.”
    “Oh, it’s the
girl’s
fault?” I’d meant the question hypothetically, but the garbage bag guy didn’t get that.
    “Yeah, it’s the girl’s fault!”
    “But we won’t scare nobody if they just give us some cash.”
    “We don’t take no credit cards, though.” Garbage bag guy laughed and smacked his friend on the arm.
    “You’re jerks. You’re both jerks. How about you get jobs instead of messing with little girls?”
    “Messing with little girls pays better,” said the garbage bag guy.
    “I was sitting here, minding my own business. You two need to remember that. You brought this on yourselves.” I stood. My whole body felt hot. I was really pissed. “Guess what? You should’ve picked another little girl to mess with today.”
    “Hey, we wasn’t messing with you. We was just passin’ by,” said the second guy. He grabbed his friend’s arm and started pulling him away.
    “Relax, girlie. No harm, no foul,” said the garbage bag guy, sending me a sarcastic grin and flashing his black, broken teeth.
    So they thought they were going to slither off and find a real girl, a normal girl, to scare?
    I felt like my heart was going to blaze out of my chest.
    “No! Not today you’re not!” I threw my anger at them. It was a glowing blue ball of light. It slammed into the two guys, lifting them off their feet and hurling them against the stone wall of the ridge.
    I was breathing hard and feeling good about what I’d done. They’d think twice before they messed with any other girl! Assholes!
    Thunder cracked above me and a fork of lightning stabbed into the center of the park, making the hair on my forearms lift. It was then I realized I had my fist wrapped around the Seer Stone.
    I blinked and shook my head. Wait, what had just happened?
    I stared at the men. They were still there, lying in the shadow of the stony ridge. They weren’t yelling back at me or brushing themselves off and getting up, or even taking off because I’d scared the crap out of them.
    I couldn’t see that they were moving at all.
    Holy crap! I’d used Old Magick to attack the two men. It had been just like when I’d knocked Shaylin off her feet. I’d done it automatically after the burn of my anger had become unbearable. But the burn hadn’t been
my
anger, it had been the Seer Stone heating up, penetrating my body, feeding from my emotions and then striking out.
    I let loose the stone and looked at my palm. A perfect circle had been burned into it.
    Dazed, I looked up, seeing smoke coming from the heart of the park above me. The air smelled of electricity and fire and I realized lightning must have struck a tree, or maybe even one of the park buildings. Woodward Park was on fire.
    Firemen would be coming soon. So would the police.
    My knees were wobbly and my head hurt as I stumbled forward, getting closer