Free Haunting Leigh: A Paranormal Romantic Comedy (Literal Leigh Romance Diaries Book 4) by Melanie James

know how the hell I should address this guy. “My name is Leigh and this is Luna. We are here for the Kovacs. They need to come with me.”
    Grand Poobah shouted, “Bring me the Kovacs! Leigh, Daughter of Moon Goddess wishes for us to perform the Blood Moon Ritual!” The crowd cheered wildly. Grand Poobah leaned down and spoke to toga woman again.
    Soon the teeming crowd began to congregate around one point. From my elevated vantage point, they looked a lot like Koi fish in a pond, gathering around a slice of bread. It became clear to me they had found the Kovacs. Before long, several people led Max and Millie towards Grand Poobah’s makeshift pulpit.
    “Give them each two more hits of the Serpent God’s nectar. That should do it.” Toga woman produced a large wooden mixing bowl full of liquid. Max and Millie each took two drinks from the bowl that toga woman had lifted to their lips. Grand Poobah also took a huge gulp or two. I had seen this sort of thing before in a documentary about native shamans of the Amazon. That was exactly how they drank their strange psychedelic brew.
    “Woo! Wamma a lamma ding dong! That’s some good shit!” Shouted Grand Poobah.
    People in the crowd each drank from their personal stash of the potion they had among them. Once everyone had a dose, the spaced out crowd chanted their leader’s words together in a prayer like tone. “Woo! Wamma a lamma ding dong! That’s some good shit!”
    “Whatever.” Mumbled Grand Poobah. He commanded the crowd to lead the Kovacs up the pyramid steps. “Take the Kovacs away up the steps to the Daughter of Moon Goddess.” He nodded to toga woman and whispered something. She followed right behind Millie and Max as they ascended the ancient stone steps. When they were just ten feet away, I spotted something that frightened me. Toga woman had turned to look down below at Grand Poobah. She had been hiding a large sword behind her back.
    “Leigh? What are you doing here? Where’s Hunter? Is he with you? And why do you have butterflies for ears?” Millie asked.
    Max looked at me with huge glassy eyes. “Well, they go well with the koalas she has for breasts.” He started laughing at something only he could see. “Wow! They can talk! Or is this all just from the drugs?”
    “Listen, Max and Millie, there’s no time to waste! I think they mean to make human sacrifices of you…sacrifices to me!” I took out my broom and handed Luna to Millie. I put an arm around Max and lifted his other arm around Millie. We now formed a small circle.
    “Yeah! Just like the good ole days! Right, Millie?” Max said exuberantly as he squeezed Millie and me close to him. Luna was somewhere in the middle.
    Poof! We left the crazy cult of the Blood Moon behind and appeared in my apartment. One thing was for sure, from that point on I would never poke fun at my dad for joining The Optimists. I’m pretty sure his fraternal order wasn’t going to get talked into partaking in human sacrifice in the fog of a drug induced psychedelic haze.

Chapter Eleven
    Medium Rare
     
    We stood in my kitchen, and I wasn’t even sure where to start. The first order of business was to get Max and Millie’s heads straightened out. I had no idea what sort of chemicals were in the bowl they drank from, but I knew it wasn’t punch. I also had to make sure they weren’t in complete shock over the interspatial trip we just took.
    It turns out that the Kovacs were already firm believers in such matters. Their altered states of perception made everything that I told them about the accident and the fate of Hunter’s ghost seem normal. They accepted everything as fact based on face value alone. I may as well have said, “The sky is blue, the sun rises in the east.” The fact that I was dealing with believers was kind of nice for a change.
    It was heartbreaking to watch Millie and Max as they watched over their son. It made me feel lower than a snake’s ass. As a matter of fact, I probably