This personification of Lord Ruthven first made his appearance in a factional approach to the fictional undead in Charnel House Blues: The Vampyre's Tale, a cynical view of the vampire in literature and film from a revenant's viewpoint. Lord Ruthven was, of course, the creation of John Polidori but it was Byron's Fragment - his contribution to the ghost story competition at the Villa Diodati - that really brought him to life in the character of the evil genius, Augustus Darvell. For the purpose of this narrative, the author has chosen a more contemporary sounding Greek given-name of Alastor - the Wanderer. But let us allow our anti-hero to tell his own story ...

"I have not always been an English lord but I have always been noble, and possess an illustrious pedigree that reaches back into the ancient world. During that time I've lost count of the number of men and women I've killed in order to drink their blood but if you were to ask me if I felt any pity or remorse for my victims, my answer would have to be: None. I am a predator who needs fresh blood to survive and a creature of nightmare, but I am not a monster. But I get ahead of myself. It is easy to tell a story from start to finish but I find that histories enriched with the piquancy of hindsight - the wisdom that comes after an event - can be much more interesting when it is evident that the story-teller had indeed lived to tell the tale ..."