Vampires were not demon lovers or snarling aliens in the early nineteenth century, but singular friends. In those days it was a privilege to walk with a vampire. They were not yet the specialized creatures we know today, recognizable by distinguishing characteristics–fangs, fruity accents, eccentric clothes–and killable by experts on their many limitations. In those early days, few vampires were defined enough to die; not all of them sucked blood to stay alive. They were indeterminate creatures who flourished, not in their difference from their human prey, but through their intimate intercourse with mortals, to whom they were dangerously close.