“What’s that saying humans have?”

“Which one?”

“The one about sticks and rocks.”

You look up from your book to see the vampire reclining in his chair, eyes fixed on a growing water stain on the ceiling.

“It’s stones, idiot.” You flip to the next page and continue reading.

“Yeah, that one. How does it go?”

“‘Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me,’” you recite.

Junhong nods, “I don’t think I remember hearing all of that before.”

You pull your eyes away from the inked words and give a good, hard look at the youthful vampire.

“Jesus, Junhong, how long have you been alive to where you can’t remember a simple phrase?”

He contemplates the numbers in his head but finally gives up and shrugs, “Dunno, but the years were in the low triple digits when I was turned.”

The sheer length of time he has been on this earth is enough to make you completely forget your book.

“Wow, so you’ve really seen every major event that has ever happened in recorded human history.”

Junhong tilts his head down and scratches the back of his neck in contemplation. “For the most part, I think.”

“What does that mean?”

“There are a few centuries missing.”

“How do you misplace a few centuries?”

Junhong gives a sly smile. “There may have been several beautiful people and copious amounts of wine involved.”