Lord of the Dead by Tom Holland

"Wandering with his friend Hobhouse in the mountains of Greece, Byron is drawn to the beauty of a mysterious fugitive slave whose pale, slim body and burning black-fringed eyes arouse his lust; soon Byron is utterly entranced, and his fate is sealed. The supreme sensualist embarks on a life of adventure even his genius could not have forseen -- that of the world's most formidable vampire.

Chosen to enjoy powers beyond those any vampire has ever known, Byron enters a dark, intoxicating world, traversing centuries of long-lost secrets, ancient arts, and scorching excesses of evil. From the Levant to London's salons, from the frozen Alps to the dark languors of Venice, he drinks deeply of terror and sex, ever more desperate to destroy his need for the most forbidden desires. But his diversions, delicious and cruel, are suffused with the rich scent of doom. Byron's gift is also his torment: an all-consuming thirst that withers life at the root, damning those he loves..." (from book jacket)

Paperback Info: ISBN 0671534262, Pocket Books, 1995

More by Tom Holland: Slave of My Thirst