Alexander came to in a dark room, he was on a strange bed not his own, it was far less comfortable, he was also still in his clothing, his boots next to him, his hat and coat on hooks on the door. He was not a prisoner, both pistol and cane were on or near the bedside table, the only other piece of furniture in the room. The room was silent and smelt of damp, there were no windows in the small room, so he could not tell the time, all the light came from a dull, flickering lamp hanging from the ceiling.

Alexander got to his feet, slipping his feet into his boots, he pulled on his coat, grabbed his cane and put his pistol in his pocket, he checked his coat to see that his pocket watch was still there, it was, as was everything else, his watch said it was one o'clock, probably in the morning seeing as there was no sound outside the room. He carefully made his way over to the door, careful not to tread on any loose boards, he reached out to test the door, it was not locked, he slowly swung the door open, baiting his breath, hoping it would not squeak.

The door was well oiled and swung open with ease, revealing a darkened, windowless hallway, the only light provided by the lamp in the room he was leaving. Alexander carefully crept from nook to cranny, avoiding the doorways set in the walls, each stretching menacingly in the low light.

"I did not think you would be up wizard," a tin can voice said, Alexander turned in surprise to face Nyctalope's glowing green eyes under his leather hood, "you are free to leave whenever you wish, I only brought you to my house to treat your wounds, especially your concussion. You're lucky I was following Jack's trail, not many survive an encounter with ol' Jack."

"Who was he?" Alexander asked as he tried not to look into the glowing eyes.

"Spring-heeled Jack, the terror of London, been around for hundreds of years, he's a killer, sometimes for hire, sometimes for fun, I've been trying to find his employers, but Jack has outwitted me, but I think I'm close to finding them by other means."

Alexander shuffled nervously from foot to foot, "who exactly are you?"

"I'm Nyctalope, the man without a heart, my heart is made of metal, as are my eyes and my voice box, they were gifted to me by a magiscientist when my old ones started to wear out, he was trying to make himself immortal by replacing all the squidgy bit, I don't know his name, but he signed everything with a delta, called himself Quartus, but I know it was not his real name."

Alexander frowned, "I've never heard of a magiscientist called Quartus, if he made an artificial heart it would have gotten out, he would have told someone, patented it, published his research, something."

Nyctalope shrugged, "I don't know, I just stumbled across him one day, told him about my eyes, voice and heart and he put in new ones, told me they would last longer than I would, well, probably."

"So, you're part man part machine?" Alexander asked as he tried to process what he had heard.

Nyctalope shrugged, "yes, that about sums up my situation."

"So, why are you hunting a murderer?"

Nyctalope sighed, it sounded a bit like a stone being shaken in a metal container, "before my second lease of life I was not a good man, I wasted God's gifts, I spent my time in and out of jail for petty theft to pay for substances to let me see my beloved again." He sighed sadly and shook his head at the thought, "then Quartus found me in a pub one night while I was drinking away my sorrows, we got to talking, I told him about my problems, he gave me job as an assistant, he paid well and I was happy. But, then my body parts started to wear out, thought I was gone for, but Quartus delivered, he gave me new parts to replace the broken ones, I continued to help him with his tinkering for years. However, three years ago, when we were nearly complete with his new body. Quartus took the body and left in the night, left me with enough money to support me for three lifetimes and a note that simply told me to be a hero to others, so here I am, being a hero, saving lives, catching crooks, exposing corruption. This is my biggest ever case, I've been tracking Jack and his friends for months, I got several small fry, money launderers, racketeers, corrupt minor officials, but they crop up like mushrooms after rain as quickly as I squash them. Jack is the first big fish I've managed to force out of whatever shadow they're hiding in. Why was he after you anyway, Jack usually only kills weak mortals for pleasure, not an armed wizard, by the way, why didn't use magic on him? Your wand is in your pocket."

"He was after me because I reported him to the Aurors and I didn't use my wand because I had my gun and there were mortals about, you know, not in front of mortals and all that. Why didn't you use magic?"

"I'm not a wizard, I was just brought into this world by Quartus and no-one can obliviate me out of it because of my eyes, so I'm just here, annoying the Aurors by catching their criminals." He smiled, the smile was hard to make out in the murk, but it was unmistakable. "Anyway, I'll make you something to eat, you must be starving after sleeping through Saturday and Sunday."

"Yes please," Alexander said as he had suddenly realised how hungry he was after Nyctalope mentioned food, Nyctalope studied Alexander for another beat before turning and walking off.

"This way please Alexander," he called over his shoulder without looking back, Alexander scrambled after him, barely able to keep up with Nyctalope's long strides.

Nyctalope lead Alexander through long dark corridors where he could barely see in front of his face, the only light being a faint glow from Nyctalope's eyes "stop!" He shouted, Nyctalope stopped and turned to face him, those eerie green eyes appearing to almost float in the darkness. "Look, Nyctalope, you may be able to see in the dark, but I can't, so please can we have some light in here?"

"Of course, I'm not stopping you, if you want a light, cast a spell," Alexander felt his face flush as he pulled his wand from his pocket.

"Luminos," a dim ball of orange light hovered in front of Alexander, he could now see Nyctalope for the first time without his vision distorted by pain or darkness. Nyctalope looked like your average London ruffian, he was tall and bulky, he had a flat face with a square jaw and a nose that spoke of many street fights. He was totally normal until you got to his eyes, at first glance it look like he was wearing some strange spectacles, but on closer inspection the spectacles were actually part of him. The haunting green lenses protruded from his face by about half an inch and a ring of metal ran back from the lens to his face and covered his entire eye socket and could be seen faintly under the skin, around the edge of the sockets were surgical straight scar that went on for an inch, the scars were bone white and raised in little ridges. He was dressed in a pressed white button up shirt, a brown waistcoat, an old hooded leather travelling coat, black trousers and hobnailed boots.

"I see now why you drew your gun rather than your wand, you're a weak wizard aren't you?" Alexander blushed and stared at his feet whilst fidgeting, but still nodded the affirmative. Nyctalope tutted, "no reason to be ashamed, you're still a better wizard than I am," Alexander looked up and smiled a small, weak smile. "So what do you want for breakfast? I have bread and jam, bacon and eggs, pastries, um, I think that's about it actually, I wasn't really expecting a guest."

"Um, I'll have bacon and eggs please," Alexander said nervously.

"Okay, this way," they walked to the end of the corridor and after a few more turns were in a corridor lined with little magical light that shone a merry yellow light into the corridors, Nyctalope then lead Alexander down some stairs. The whole of the building that Alexander could see was decorated in the same sparse way, red wallpaper ceiling to about one metre from the ground, where some plain wood cladding took over down to the plain dark wood floor. The stairs were similarly decorated, the only break coming from the plain chunky wood handrails that ran down both sides of the steps. On the stairs they passed a pair of house elves, the only other inhabitants of the house that Alexander had seen since he had arrived, they were intently scrubbing the floorboards, so Alexander decided not to try to talk to the bag swathed servants.