The Red Ripper by Kerry Newcomb Read Free Book Online Page A

his wine.
    Esperanza seemed to be daydreaming, her eyes focused on the worn deck of cards in her hands. It was her own fate, not Juan Diego’s, that held her entranced. She was haunted by the image of a man, a rugged real face in a crowd of pretty strangers. Sensing his presence yet again, she lifted her gaze and saw him duck beneath the arched entrance to the side garden.
    Who was this red-haired norte americano towering in the shadows beneath flame vines, a figure of raw power in repose? And why this sense of kinship? He seemed so out of place. An innocent glance bridged a gap between strangers and left her with the disturbing premonition life would never be the same. Madre de Dios, maybe she really did have a gift.
    â€œSo, woman, I have heard of your talents,” said Juan Diego, clearing his throat. “Come and show me. Walk in the shadows and see beyond seeing and tell me what you find.” Diego glanced from his sister to his circle of friends, bluebloods one and all. Sunlight glinted off the medals dangling from his blue jacket and the plumed helmet he had placed on the table. He shrugged and sipped wine from a long-stemmed crystal glass. “Sergeant Obregon, perhaps you should nudge the señora with your saber and see if she is still with us.”
    Cayetano Obregon, the captain’s subordinate, grinned and rolled his eyes as if to indicate the woman must have taken leave of her senses. A burly, balding old warhorse, the sergeant was a familiar sight hovering protectively around Juan Diego and his sister. Obregon mopped the moisture from his bald pate; beads of sweat
collected in his brushy black sideburns as he stared at Esperanza. Despite the carnal hunger etched in his pockmarked features, the sergeant was loath to disturb the young woman. Obregon came from peasant stock and carried a healthy fear of the unknown. The soldier had heard enough rumors concerning Esperanza and was not about to test her powers by openly antagonizing the woman. The sergeant shifted nervously, rattled his saber, but remained alongside the twins.
    Juan Diego slapped the tabletop. “Señora!”
    The young woman jumped where she sat, startled from her reverie, jolted back to the present. The eighteen-year-old mystic tore her gaze from Wallace and focused on the gathering of men and women who had come to see the “shadow walker” ply her trade. Their doubts were plainly visible. Was she a fraud or was there something to the cards and the powers she had inherited from her mother? She didn’t care whether or not they believed, just so long as they feared.
    â€œWhat do you see in the shadows for me?” Diego asked, leaning forward. His black hair was swept back from his angular features. His mustache was a mere suggestion, a dark line tracing his upper lip. Eyes like chips of obsidian judged her every move. Rare was the woman who did not swoon over the governor’s eligible nephew and fantasize being swept off her feet by the swaggering captain of lancers. No officer was more daring in battle or dashing on the dance floor. And yet Esperanza Saldevar was immune to his charms. She wasn’t fooled. In her judgment, Juan Diego and his twin sister were like ravens—sleek, disdainful creatures to whom most people were so much future prey.
    Esperanza studied the faces of the people gathered around her. They wanted a show. She would give them one. Taking up the gypsy cards that had been her mother’s legacy, Esperanza stood and slowly made her
way through her audience. She expected the disdain in their eyes, but there was also misgiving, a primal fear of something beyond their ken.
    She paused before Sergeant Obregon and blew softly on the deck. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she began to softly laugh, in a voice that seemed not her own, deeper in tone and issuing from another’s throat. Obregon gulped, derision faded from his expression, and he blessed himself with the sign of the