Sam had been one of the few people to see her as she had been before her death -- only Cullen had seen her worse-off, and he'd at least seen people exposed to the taint before.

The surprise has her stumbling to offer her apologies for interrupting him, but by that time he's asking her a question and it seems rude not to answer it. She opens her mouth to speak and then closes it, letting out a puff of air through her nose.

"I don't know," she admits, one hand flexing at her side. "I didn't think that everyone here had been lying about the deaths, of course, but where I'm from ... reanimation is never a good thing. Even the first time, there's always a cost." She swallows thickly, pushing down the memories of her mother's body, possessed by that desire demon, and suppresses a shudder.

"So I've been trying to figure out whether I'm any -- different, I suppose."