Prologue Decades later I can still smell the callous odors of the shadowy alley where it happened. I can feel the warmth of my own blood dripping down my arm to fall in droplets from my fingers just before I collapsed to the ground. And I can never extinguish the torment that I have felt since then each time I replay the scene in my head. For on this night, a vagabond, whom I later would know as Edward, took something very dear from me that unfortunately can never be taken back.