Lorelei

by Melody Calder

  He pulled me back up, his lips never leaving mine as I pressed against his hard body. He made me feel loved, and I never wanted it to end. I didn’t care that we were taking things so fast, all I cared about was feeling this way every day for the rest of my life.

  We came up for air and he nibbled on my bottom lip before leading me off the dance floor with his arm wrapped around my waist. I buried my head against his chest and his scent enveloped me. It was the scent of the woods and paints that always clung to him, and I stumbled as a scene flashed through my mind.

  Klaus and I laid side by side in a field of flowers, both of our breathing heavy as we held hands. I could hear the sound of a river flowing in the background, the noise soothing and familiar.

  “I will love you forever, Lorelei. Let us leave this place together. Be my wife and be the mother of my children. We can have everything if you’re willing to take the chance with me,” his voice was pleading and sincere.

  I felt his love for me, and it was everything. Yet, I was afraid, and I responded sadly, “But my father will never let me leave.”

  “We can escape. We can find somewhere far away from his rule. I don’t care what I have to do, I will make you my wife,” his voice was filled with grief and determination.

  “I love you more than life itself, Klaus. I don’t know where we could hide that is away from water, but I trust you to make it happen. Yes, I would love nothing more than to be your wife.”

  .

  Lorelei stopped walking and I felt her legs go limp. I looked at her face as I held her up. She was awake but zoned out, staring straight ahead at nothing. “Lorelei,” I tried to get her attention, but she didn’t respond. I had seen this happen before. It was when she would start to remember and have flashbacks of her previous life. I knew she would have questions when she came to, and I didn’t think that being in a crowded pub was the best place for her to wake up. I scooped her up in my arms and carried her outside.

  She was still out of it when I flagged down a cab and carefully settled her in the seat before I climbed in. The cabbie looked at me curiously and muttered something about tourists not being able to handle the German nightlife after I gave him the name of my hostel. I chose to ignore his complaint and pretend as if I didn’t speak German. I hoped that she would stay under until I could get her back to the room. I didn’t think that the way she would, most likely, wake up would be good in this cab. I would hate to have the police called if the cabbie thought she was on drugs, or even worse that I drugged her.

  I held her close to me as the cabbie made the short trip to the hostel. Once we arrived, I threw a bundle of money at him and carried Lorelei to my room. She was just starting to awaken in the elevator, and I had a hard time holding her as her body started to fight the effects of the curse breaking. I was thankful no one was around this late at night as she began to moan. It was a struggle to hold her and open my door, but somehow, I managed. Kicking the door closed behind me, I carried her to my bed and laid her down.

  She began to thrash, her face scrunched up in pain, as her memories of the past started to flood her mind. I hated this part of the process. It wasn’t as painful to watch as it was when she died, but still, I ached to take all the pain from her. All I could do was hold her and stroke her hair, not caring that her arms flung out and hit me repeatedly. I knew she needed me to be there, to feel my love.

  I recalled the first time it happened. I didn’t know what to do then. I thought she was going to die again just as she came back to me. I sat holding and rocking her for hours, bruises covered me from head to toe as she had thrashed so much, and I couldn’t avoid her hits. I didn’t want to, feeling like I deserved it for the life I had given us, for the pain I had caused her because I had been so desperate to save her. When she finally settled down, the moans of pain died off, and she looked at me with new eyes. She was angry, livid with me for lying to her. She beat against my chest as tears streamed down her face and asked me why I had done that to her.

  I took every bit of her anger, I begged for her forgiveness, yet she had stormed out and left me. I tried to chase after her, but she was too fast. It took days before she came back, dirty with her hair knotted and just as dirty as her clothes and face. Tear tracks ran down her dirt streaked face, leaving clean marks. “I’m sorry Klaus. I shouldn’t have been so angry with you. I love you so much and I understand now why you did what you did. Please forgive me?”

  There was nothing for me to forgive and I told her as much. I took her in my arms and led her to the bathroom where I took care of her, cleaning the dirt from her body and carefully combing the knots out of her hair. I was so thankful that she forgave me, and we made love like never before. She was different in some ways, her new life had changed small things about her, but her essence was still the same. We lived happily for two years, each day a blessing, before she was killed in a tragic accident. I will never forget the day I found her body in the park where we were to meet after work. She had climbed a tree, for what reason I still don’t know, and must have slipped and fell landing on her neck breaking it. She didn’t suffer, that I was thankful for. The pain I felt for losing her again tore me apart. So much that I dared to enter the Black Forest and searched for the coven of witches that had saved her.

  It took me a month to find them, danger lurking at every corner. I had been attacked by many wild animals in my time there and was lucky to have survived. At the time, I didn’t know that I couldn’t be killed. When I finally found them, the youngest of the original group was the only one left and she was quite old by then. She told me of the curse, the intricacies that no one had told me before. I was angry that they hadn’t truly saved Lorelei as I had asked, but instead gave her an eternity of multiple lives in which she would find only pain and an early death. I felt that the short time I had with Lorelei was not worth all the pain she had gone through.

  The old hag told me that all magic had a price and that I didn’t listen to the coven when they warned me. She mixed up a potion and had me drink it, wanting me to see the truth in what happened that day through the eyes that were not scared and desperate. I took the cup from her warily and drank it. She chanted, and soon the memories of that day came back.

  “Please save her,” I begged the coven of witches that my aunt had called. They looked as if it were hopeless, all shaking their heads in pity as they spoke quietly in a group.

  One stepped forward, the leader. “Klaus, there is only one thing we can do to save her, but the price for it will be high for both of you. We don’t want to do this.”

  “I don’t care about the price!” I roared. “Just save her. I will die without her.”

  She shook her head at me. “Do you want to consider the high price you’ll pay before you make that decision?”

  “No,” I said immediately, without thought. “Just save my Nixie.” I could feel her pulse weakening and her breath was shallow as I held her hand. My aunt changed the blood-filled cloth that she had been holding against Lorelei’s wound. There was so much blood and I knew she wasn’t going to survive unless the hags agreed to save her. “Please,” I begged, “I’ll do anything.”

  The old woman sighed and went back to her group. Tears streamed down my face as I begged Lorelei to stay with me. I wanted to rage at the women who weren’t doing anything as my one true love faded away.

  Finally, the leader started giving instructions, telling each one to gather an ingredient needed for whatever spell they were going to perform. Once she was done, she turned to me and asked, “Do you have something that we can bind her soul to? Something of meaning to the both of you?”

  I wracked my brain for something that was special to both of us. We had nothing since our time together had to be hidden from her father. I was poor and couldn’t afford to buy her jewelry, though I had been slowly putting money away to buy her a ring for our marriage. I looked around the room in desperation, hoping something would trigger an idea when my eyes landed on the painting I had ma
de of her. I had used mud and seaweed from her home to get the colors for the background, unable to afford the paints as I was saving for the ring.

  “The painting,” I said. “That’s the only thing I have. Will it work?”

  I waited with bated breath as she mulled it over. “I can make it work. But Klaus, I must warn you that you will pay a large price for this. I won’t know that price until we finish, if then even, but we have to use dark magic and I expect it will be bad.”

  Through my grief, I heard none of the warning in her voice, none of the fear she had for myself and Lorelei. “I am sure that the price I have to pay is worth it. I don’t care if I grow horns or have warts covering my body. I just want my soulmate to be with me.”

  “It’s not going to be that simple, Klaus. Again, I warn you that the price will be steep,” she said sharply. “Steeper than anyone would be willing to pay.”

  “Do it,” I commanded, my voice leaving no room for argument. Our time was growing short and Lorelei still might not make it. The women got into place and moved me from my spot. I tried to protest but they shushed me and pushed me back, reminding me that they needed to work without me in the way if they were going to save her. I sat in the corner and watched as they used the potions to draw strange symbols on her face and body. Sobs wracked me as I feared that it would be too late. Their chanting grew to a crescendo and I felt the air crackle. I sat up in my chair as a bright light flashed from Lorelei’s body and made its way to the portrait where it swirled around it before it seemed to absorb the light.

  I watched it until it faded and left the room dark, only the soft glow from the painting lighting the room. Lorelei of the portrait waved at me and I heard her voice echo as if it was materializing from the painting, “Come to me, Klaus.”

  I moved towards it; confusion addled my brain. It was as if I were in a tunnel as I made my way towards the voice. Just as I stepped up to my painting, the darkness around me churned and swirled as it became bright again and I realized that I was standing not next to the painting, but next to the bed that my love was laid upon. Her eyes were open, and she reached for my hand. “Klaus.”

  I sobbed and carefully took her in my arms, scared that I might hurt her, yet needing to feel that she was real. “My love, you’re alive,” I cried, as I held her as close as I dared.

  The images stopped and I was left sitting across from the old witch, her knowing eyes burning through me. It was then that I knew I had screwed up. I had been so focused on my grief and my need for Lorelei that I didn’t heed the warning of the witches. “What can I do to change this?” I asked the old woman. “There has to be something, another spell, anything that can make this right.”

  She shook her head sadly. “What we did that day, we can’t undo it. I wish there was something I could do, but there isn’t. She will come back to you, as she did this time. She will continue to come back to you and find you through the portrait that we bound her to. We told you that we didn’t know the price you would have to pay and that it would be high. Now I know that the price is her early death and reincarnation, not remembering anything until she falls in love with you again. What you described happening when those memories come back, it may get worse or it may get better. I don’t have the answer to that as only time will tell. If it does, you must comfort her and help her through it the best you can. You were warned, Klaus, but still, I am sorry.”

  “Please, just try to help me break it,” I pleaded with her, even though I knew it was of no use.

  “I will speak to the others, but as the eldest and most powerful of this coven, I can tell you not to get your hopes up.” Using a roughly carved piece of timber as a cane, she slowly stood up and motioned for me to follow. She led me to the stream that marked the border of their lands. “If we find a way, we will contact you. Until then, you must do everything you can to accept this cycle of life and death.”

  .

  Finally, hours later, her body relaxed, and she seemed to be sleeping. I studied her face, the beauty of her taking my breath away, as it did whenever I looked at her. I didn’t know for how long she would be out, since it was different every time. I braced myself for whatever reaction would come when she did wake. I slipped her head from my lap and gently placed it on the pillow before getting out of the bed. I worked on taking off her shoes and clothing so that she would be more comfortable.

  I didn’t want to leave her side, however, I knew that she would need something to drink after her ordeal. I went to the bar and grabbed not only a bottle of water, but also a bottle of brandy and two glasses. She may need a stiff drink to deal with her emotions when she wakes up. Once I had everything set up on the nightstand, I slid off my own clothes down to my boxers and climbed into bed next to her.

  I kept my eyes open for as long as I could, staring at Lorelei and remembering our many lives together. I knew I couldn’t take another death and part of me regretted meeting her again in this life. Maybe I should have walked away and gone back to Paris? Maybe then she could have a long life, marry a decent man, have a few children, and just have a normal life. I berated myself for being the one that caused her so much pain time and time again.

  The more I recalled our past lives together, the more I thought about the times that she had rejected me. She never lived long in those lives either, having the same few years of life before dying young in a tragic accident. I had never tried to not meet her though, and maybe that was the secret. Maybe in the next life I would see her and force myself to walk away. I was sure I could follow her from a distance and make sure that she had a good long life.

  It would certainly be painful for me to try this experiment, but nothing compared to the pain we both went through time and time again. My own life filled with the bitter loneliness I experienced between her lives and the pain of losing her each time, and Lorelei with the pain of remembering, and the pain of death.

  Am I selfish for not fully regretting saving her and paying the price? I suppose in a way I was selfish, yet it destroyed me to see her suffer through the centuries. Every moment I was able to spend with her was worth more than the amount of misery I went through. I only wished that I could take her suffering away as well.

  She stirred as I was dozing off, a small sigh coming from her lips. My eyes snapped open and I sat up. I rubbed her hair and murmured soothing words as I saw her eyes flutter open. Confusion marred her beautiful face and her eyes darted around. When they settled on me, relief flooded her face. “Klaus. I’m sorry if I woke you. I just had the strangest dream.”

  “A dream?” I questioned. Not once upon waking had she ever said it was a dream.. Now, I was very confused. I refused to betray my emotions, not wanting to upset her any further. Whatever was happening, I needed to proceed with caution. “You didn’t wake me, my love. I was already awake staring at your gorgeous face wondering how I got so lucky.”

  She smiled brightly. “You are such a flatterer. I’m sorry if I passed out on you. I must have drunk too much.” Her brow furrowed and she blushed. “I actually don’t remember coming here. The last thing I remember is walking away from the dance floor. I didn’t think I drank that much.”

  I didn’t want to lie to her, and I didn’t want to tell her the truth either. I had no choice but to keep up the farce and avoid being completely honest. I knew that if I told her there would be consequences, I just didn’t know what they would be. The hags didn’t know either but had made the rules very clear before they left us. “You did have a bit to drink. You got a little woozy when we were walking out, so I carried you to a cab and brought you here. I’m sure it was just all the excitement and physical exertion mixed with drinking. It happens.” I gave her a look of understanding and tried to convey it in my voice.

  “I supposed that could happen. Thank you for taking care of me. I’m still extremely embarrassed, but I’m happy that it was with a wonderful man like you and not some stranger,” she said shyly.

  I reached for the water and helped her to
take a drink. “Slowly. Just a little bit at a time.” She looked at me gratefully for taking care of her.

  “It’s odd that I passed out and then had a dream,” she mused out loud. “I know I’ve done this a time or two in my college days, but I never had any dreams then. My mind was blank in blackout, like I had just stopped existing for the time I was out.” She let out a self-depreciating guffaw, “It’s so strange. And the dream was so vivid. I felt like I was living it. I could feel everything, like the water against my skin. I could taste the water as if I were really drinking it. I don't know how to explain it other than it was peculiar.”

  I might regret this, but I needed to help her deal with this. And honestly, this was not how it had ever happened in the past, so I was wading through uncharted waters. “Why don’t you tell me about it. Maybe we can make sense of it together.”

  Lorelei proceeded to tell me of her dream, and she explained every detail of things she felt and tasted, along with what she saw. I knew a little of that part of her life. I don’t know what it was like for her to swim, but I remember the day she had come to me while I waited for her on the beach. It was shortly after we had met, and we spent the day in the flower fields. That was the first time we had made love and it was magical. It was that day that I asked her to be my wife. It was one week before her father tried to kill me and effectively killed her instead.

  I didn’t know what to make of only some of her memories coming back and them feeling like a dream to her. So far, this time everything was different, and I hoped that meant that we could change it. “That is a very vivid dream. No wonder you feel so out of sorts,” I replied when she was done relaying her supposed dream.