The conversation with Professor Simmons took longer than I intended. I'd merely wanted to make sure he had the address to send the exhibition pieces back to at the end of the week and had been roped into a conversation about my research. Fifteen minutes later, I made my way to the front. Elijah stood next to a black sedan. He smiled as he saw me and opened the door. I slid into the back seat. He closed the door then went around and got in on the other side. Niklaus sat in the front passenger seat next to the driver.

"Sorry that took so long. It's never easy to disengage from conversation in a room full of academics."

"That is quite all right," Elijah assured me. "Our driver tells us there is a small restaurant not far off campus that has decent food. I hope this will be acceptable."

I shrugged. "I'm not picky. I hope what I'm wearing is okay?"

The driver glanced at me in the mirror and nodded. Thank God. I didn't need to feel any more awkward than I already did. Sweat coated my palms and I rubbed them on my jeans. I could do this. I'd been preparing for this for years. I just needed to remember to breathe.

The restaurant turned out to be a small casual steak house. The waiter escorted us to a table in the corner and the brothers took the seats that had their backs were to the wall. Nobody was going to sneak up on me with these two around so I took one of the other seats without complaint.

Once the waiter delivered our drinks and took our order, Elijah leaned forward. "So tell me, Ms. Grimes, you said your presentation was the result of seven years' work. How old are you exactly?"

I lifted a brow. "I would think someone of your obvious manners would know better than to ask a lady her age."

He smiled but said nothing else, simply waiting for my answer. Niklaus leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest and studied me, much as he'd been doing since we sat down.

"I'm twenty-four. I began my research shortly after leaving high school."

"If you don't mind my saying, you seem quite accomplished for one of your age." Elijah tapped his fingers on the table as he looked me over.

I huffed a laugh. "That's one way of putting it. I graduated high school a year early and took heavy loads all the way through college. When my parents passed, they left me enough money that I didn't have to work while I went to school."

We fell silent as the waiter brought our food.

"I am sorry about your parents."

I shrugged. I'd had a long time to process what happened to my parents that night. The vampire studied me clearly expecting some other response, but I had none to give him. I couldn't tell them it wasn't their fault or not to worry about it as politeness would dictate I do. Instead, I just continued to eat.

After a moment Elijah cleared his throat. "Tell me, when did you first hear of the Curse of the Sun and the Moon?"

I leaned back in my chair as I took a long pull from my bottle of beer. It was a passable dark lager but nothing special. I watched Niklaus cut into his rare steak. "You've been very quiet, Mr. Smith. Does this topic interest you at all, or is it strictly your brother's obsession?"

He took a sip of wine and tilted his head to the side, a smirk on his face. "Call me Klaus, love. And I am interested in the curse. Far more than my brother in fact. However, I find it extremely unlikely that you could possibly know more about it than either of us. Besides I don't bother with niceties, I leave that to Elijah."

"Niklaus," Elijah snapped. "I apologize, Ms. Grimes. My brother can be rather blunt at times."

I waved a hand through the air in dismissal. "It's Cassidy. And I prefer bluntness myself most of the time, so if you don't mind, I'll ask you a question. Exactly whose idea was it to create the curse in the first place? It's quite a brilliant way to get everyone looking for what you seek."

Elijah dabbed his mouth with his napkin. "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."

"Don't you, Mr. Mikaelson?"

Elijah went still, his face going blank and his dark eyes studied me. It unnerved him that I spoke so casually about things no one else should know. Klaus lunged toward me but my magic held him in place with a gesture from me. I prepared the spell long before we sat down. His jaw tightened and his face flushed as his eyes narrowed. Oh, the hybrid was not happy with me at all. Excitement and terror flooded through me in equal measure.

"What do you want from us, witch?" Klaus spat the words and a flash of surprise showed on Elijah's face before it faded back to that blank mask.

I locked eyes with the younger Original. "I want nothing from you but I think you will want to hear what I have to say."

Klaus's pupils dilated as he stared into my eyes. "You will release me."

"I will release you," I repeated in a monotone. Triumph lit Klaus's features until I added, "when I'm finished. I can't be compelled, gentlemen. Not even by the likes of you. So sorry."

If Klaus looked furious before, it was nothing compared to how he looked now. His face was red in his rage and he actually trembled, doubtless with the desire to rip my heart out. Elijah, on the other hand, looked intrigued. I gestured to their plates. "You might as well finish eating."

"I would, but I can't move."

"I have not restrained all your movement, Klaus. Only those actions which would harm me or allow you to leave. You can't hear what I have to say if I'm dead."

"I would be happy to live in ignorance," he bit out.

Elijah frowned. "What is it you think to tell us that we do not already know?"

"There are things the Original witch kept secret about the curse placed on your brother." While the Curse of the Sun and the Moon was as fake as they come, there was a curse. Klaus had been born from an affair with a werewolf. When he was turned into a vampire and triggered the curse, he became a true hybrid. One of a kind and near indestructible. His mother placed a curse on him binding his werewolf side. He'd been trying to undo it ever since.

Elijah shook his head. "You will have to forgive us if we find all of this difficult to believe. We cannot simply take your word. We have acquired many enemies over the years that would not hesitate to use an innocent to get close to us."

I pulled my phone from the pocket of my coat. "I was going to show you this later but I suppose, if nothing else, it will at least buy me time to explain myself." I scrolled through the gallery until I found the picture I wanted and handed it over to Elijah.

His eyes widened as he looked between the picture and me. "Katerina."

Klaus immediately quit struggling against my magic so I released it. He snatched the phone from his brother's hand and glared at me. "Where is she?"

"That is not Katherine."

"Impossible," Elijah argued. "Who else could it be?"

I smiled, knowing I had them. "That is my little cousin. Elena." My cousin was a doppelganger, a duplicate of the original girl sacrificed for the curse. Her blood was required to break the spell. Katherine was also a doppelganger but she managed to turn into a vampire before the sacrifice. She'd been running from the Originals' retribution ever since.

Though they tried not to give anything away, I could see the interest in both of them. "Eat and I'll talk." Klaus laid the phone on the table beside him, as if afraid the image would disappear if he handed it back. Once they both resumed eating, I started talking. "Katherine had a child out of wedlock prior to meeting you. The child was taken and given away and Katherine was banished from her family and her home. Her travels led her to England, which I believe is where she met you, unless I am mistaken. That child is our ancestor."

"As far as I know, Elena is still unaware of this. She was adopted at birth. Her birth mother was my mother's sister. Right now, I'm just a family friend."

Klaus studied me while I finished my beer. "If she is your cousin, why are you handing her over to us?"

"Oh, I'm not." I could almost feel the irritation radiating off the men. "Perhaps we should finish this conversation somewhere a bit more private."

"Of course." Elijah pulled out his wallet and dropped several bills on the table. "Shall we adjourn elsewhere? Our suite, perhaps."

I stood. "I need to go to my own hotel and freshen up first. My flight was delayed and I didn't have time to do much before I had to go to the college. I can meet you shortly."

Klaus snorted. "If you think I'm letting you out of my sight before I have all the information I need from you, you are sorely mistaken, love."

I shrugged. "Suit yourself."

The driver pulled up as we stepped outside.

"Niklaus, take Ms. Grimes to her hotel in the car. I will meet you back at our rooms," Elijah instructed.

Klaus nodded once and grabbed my upper arm to steer me to the rear of the car. He opened the door and directed me inside and across the seat. He slid in behind me and shut the door. I glanced at him before turning to the driver.

"I'm at the Jasper Inn."

We rode in silence to the hotel but Klaus's eyes were on me the whole time.

Not a word was spoken as I led him through the lobby to the elevators. He hovered inches behind me like a predator stalking his prey. I could almost feel him breathing down my neck. The man was unnerving. I used my keycard to let us in when we arrived at my room. The moment the door closed, a hand closed around my throat.