Reflections of Night

Research

Maddie was 'researching'.
Maddie's form of research currently consisted of sitting in a downworld bar, waiting for a faerie named Declan to show up.
Dec was an old friend of Maddie's. Heck, they'd almost dated once, but decided strong friendship was just that, friendship.
But the thing about Dec is that he knew just about everyone. He seemed to have eyes and ears everywhere, and knew everyone's business.
Which was exactly what Maddie wanted.
Finally, She saw him, a dark haired figure in a loose purple shirt, making his way through the crowd to the bar.
"Hey, Dec!" She yelled.
Dec grinned when he saw her, seating himself down next to her.
"Mads, what can I do for you?"
Maddie smiled coyly. "Can't I just be with you because I want to?"

"Well, yeah, but you have the look. Who do you need to know about?"
Maddie chuckled. "Alright, you got me. So, tell me, what do you know about a 'Lady Mater'?"

Dec rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Off the top of my head, I'd have to say... rich scientist lady, bit of a recluse, extremely protective of downworlder rights, and supposedly bat-shit crazy. I can get my boys to do some more thorough digging, if you'd like."
"Yeah, that'd be great." Maddie thought for a moment. "What do you mean by 'bat-shit crazy'?"
"Oh, tons of stuff. She does research into ancient civilization's of the downworld, and believes in some really crazy stuff. But the best one is about a year back, and you can ask your friends at the institute about this one, the institute got a call from her mansion, and on the other end she was screaming something about 'She's after me! She's in the house! My child! She wants my child!'.
When they get there, nothing. She's fine, she's normal, no signs of any attack, the staff didn't see or hear anything unusual, and she doesn't even remember making the call. Oh, and the baby? The woman had never had kids, never been married, none of it. She's crazy. And delusional. Still, I'll find out some stuff. Anything in particular?"
Maddie thought back to what she'd overheard the other day. "Yes, there is. Is there anything about Lady Mater and Valentine Morgenstern?"

Dec laughed. "Oh yeah, that's easy. She hated him. I mean, lots of people did, but she was almost psychotic about it. Seriously, I get the feeling that if he hadn't died when he did, she would have hunted him down and murdered him." Dec looked around, checking they couldn't be overheard, before leaning in close. He spoke in a whisper.
"I know I said she had no child, no family. But I always wondered exactly what he did to make her like that. I mean, it wasn't just hate like we all hated him, it was... personal. Now, grief... grief can make people crazy."

Important authors note: Done some severe editing on this chapter too. Dec changed a lot in writing him. XD