Can There Be Only One?

Chapter 41

"Hey Duncan, can I-" I walked in and saw a woman I had never seen before. She looked at me and we stared at each other.

"Maria, this is Nefertiri." My mouth fell open and she came up to me and I couldn't help but stare at her.

"I am sorry to stare... but... YOU are immortal?" She laughed a little and grabbed some of my hair lightly and stared at it, moving it around in her hands. I looked up at Duncan and he shrugged his shoulders. She let go and did a full circle around me.

"Are you the queen?" she questioned and I laughed a little. She looked at me with confusion and I shook my head.

"But you are the most beautiful of them I have seen."

"Of what?"

"Human life," she said and I looked back at Duncan and down at her again.

"I am an immortal, like you. My name is Maria Enache and the only people that have queens is England. I am not a queen." I smiled and she looked back at Duncan and then walked over, sitting on the couch.

"The world is very different from when I was living," she said and I looked up at Duncan, who took my arm and brought me outside.

"I found her in a tomb... she has been stuck in there for over 1,000 years," he said and I looked back to see her looking at one of my paintings.

"Poor woman," I said and shook my head.

"She was being transported like cargo," he said and I just looked up at him and went back in. I walked up to her and she looked at me and then back at the painting.

"This is a beautiful painting... who made it?"

"I did," I said and she looked at me and I looked at her. I was so surprised by her presence, every time I looked at her I lost my breath.

"I have to go, I have a boyfriend waiting for me at home... but I hope we meet again, Nefertiri." I kissed her hand and left the barge, amazed that I had just met her of all people. I went back to my house and saw Richie wasn't there. I called him and he picked up.

"Hey, I'm sorry to have left so suddenly, but I got a call from a friend who says he is being harassed by someone who is looking for me... so I had to go, but I will be back tomorrow." I laughed.

"It's okay, Richie, you go have fun."

"I will try," he said and hung up. I laughed again and put some music on, writing more of my memoir. I got about 20 pages in when I heard a knock on the door and recognized it immediately.

"Come in, Joe." He opened the door and closed it behind him, laughing.

"Am I that frequent of a visitor?" I laughed and he sat down across from me.

"Yes, but you are also the only mortal that comes walking up to my door besides Abe. I enjoy your company, Joe. I just have photographic memory of that kind of thing, kind of like the sensing of an immortal." I put my stuff away and laid down on the couch.

"What is the trouble today, Joe?" He chuckled and put a file on the table. I got up, excited for the contents and opened it to see a man I had met a long time ago.

"Marcus Constantine... he was shipping an Egyptian Sarcophagus when-"

"Duncan intercepted it and let her go. I met her already. She was beautiful, Joe and she was very... proper. She had to have felt so depressed locked up in that coffin. Why would Marcus do that, though?" He shrugged his shoulders and I sighed.

"I want nothing to do with Marcus," I said and closed the file, throwing it on the table. I went to the fridge and grabbed a glass of milk. I headed back to the couch where Joe was flipping through the file.