This story was the blueprint for presenting vampires as charming aristocratic leeches. This was a fun read, and whilst I kind of enjoyed the removed way the story was told, I wish this had been balanced out with a pov of Lord Ruthven himself. Blood sucking vampire he may be, I couldn't shake the feeling that Aubrey was an unreliable narrator and if we could just get Lord Ruthven's pov perhaps it would make his character and the story more complex. I am still thankful for this story and the modern iterations of vampires it spurned including Carmilla, Dracula, Interview with the Vampire and of course the Penny dreadful, Varney the vampire.