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he was going to have to remember at all times. Especially now that she seemed to be doing such a superb job of joining in with them.
    Especially now that it seemed Cody had accepted her, and even Brendan seemed to be falling for the beauty and sweetness of her spirit and…
    Facade.

CHAPTER FOUR
    M EGAN STOOD IN the middle of the cemetery, feeling the faint stirring of the breeze and looking around, wondering where to begin. The cemetery was relatively new. And yet, it was new at a time when the death toll was staggering. Across the country—or both countries—women waited at railroad stations for the post to come in, to read the lists of newly fallen, and pray that their beloved husbands, sons and brothers were not on those lists.
    Many injured returned home. And died.
    Disease was rampant.
    Prospect Hill had been created when the law had stated that new burials must take place beyond city boundaries for such reasons. Technically, it was owned by the Men’s Evangelical Society of Concordia Church; it had been consecrated in 1858, and it officially opened the following year. It wasn’t a soldier’s cemetery, but since Washington had been the staging ground for the First Battle of Bull Run, as the Union called it, the First Manassas, as the Confederates called it, many local sons had died very early on.
    Now graves were dug in expectation, but those who had been destined to reside within them might never do so. Exigencies meant that far too many men had to be buried where they fell. Some remains would be retrievedat later dates; some would remain where they had fallen forever.
    She was alone with Cole on the mission; the day was not long enough for their small party to cover the many places that came to mind after they had attended to the victims who had been murdered during the night. It had been Cole himself who finally realized that they needed to split up, and since it seemed most prudent that she and Cody be split—since they could easily endure the bite of a vampire and return to tell any tale—he had either begun to trust her, or he’d still rather risk himself than Brendan Vincent.
    â€œWhere do we begin,” Cole murmured at her side, looking out across the vast and lonely expanse of the grounds.
    â€œI think we need to wait a moment. There are several families here—look, just behind that little hill. There are people at that grave.”
    He nodded. “It’s very new. No marker as yet.” She was startled when he suddenly took her arm. “Let’s stroll. We’ll appear to be seeking the grave of a father or brother.”
    She nodded, surprised to feel a sensation of quickening within her, and aware of the warmth in his form, the strength of his hold.
    â€œSo,” he said. “Not long ago, I wouldn’t have believed that I could ask such a thing, but…did you always know that you were a vampire?”
    He asked the question lightly, as if it were casual conversation.
    â€œTo tell you the truth, I’m not sure exactly what we are, Cody and I,” she replied. “I can be injured, and I do age. I heal overnight when I am injured, that’s true. AndI have survived when I should have died. But I have a heart that beats, I breathe.”
    He paused, looking down at her, and she was surprised that he almost seemed to be smiling. “That’s—wonderful. But it’s not the answer to my question.”
    She shrugged. “Well, I don’t remember my infancy. I remember that I was always extremely fond of a rare steak, and that my mother always had me drink a strange concoction. I suppose the day she actually talked to me was when I was very young and had been punished at school.”
    â€œFor what?”
    â€œSamuel Reeves.”
    â€œYou were punished because…”
    â€œSamuel was a bully. He was always teasing my friend Sally, who limped. She’d been born with one leg a bit shorter than the other.