"It's empty." Alek looked down at the ground in confusion. Not long ago there would have been an overwhelming sense of vampire presence beneath his feet, but now there was nothing.

"I thought it might be," said David, smiling.

"But... why? They all had the code to get in."

"Ego. Defeat. They were part of something they thought was going to be glorious, and nothing came of it. They would rather pretend it didn't happen, the same way some people in the cities pretend the fall of civilization never happened. Perhaps a few of them came back, and tried to continue, but there would be fighting, arguments, all the usual vampires games, and nobody to be the single leader and settle all that. Who knows, maybe the last few killed each other. Or maybe some pack is still using it and they're out tonight." He chuckled. "If that's the case they'll have a rude surprise when they get back."

"Holy shit," Megan breathed, the exclamation quietly intense. Megan almost never swore, so David looked over in surprise to where she sat in front of one of the panel and screen pairs, which she said was a computer.

"What?"

"There's a hands-free pocket-nuke running this thing! No wonder they could keep the lights on all the time."

"What does that mean?"

"I'll spare you the lecture on nuclear physics and just say that it means we could power this whole place for fifty years before we have to even worry about electricity. Longer, if we take measures to not waste it."

"David, I just found the index of the supply rooms. You're never going to believe what's in there." Jeff looked bright-eyed. They were all a little manic with discovery as they explored the city. "Even without hydroponics we could feed an army for a year on what's here, and there are parts for all the machinery here, so I can keep it all running, once I learn a bit more about the systems. And that's not the half of it. There are devices, things like that vampire's headband that let him command everyone. I haven't even begun to figure out what they all do."

David shook his head. "What was this place? You say they could feed an army, but there are no weapons! And the synthesis system... this was meant to house vampires, but the food and the hydroponics... it was meant to house humans too."

"David," Megans voice had a strange note that he couldn't identify in it as she called him over. "I think you should see this." She had been trying to figure out the computer system in Central for the last several days, and was even now sitting in the chair there, working at one of the computer stations. "I finally found the information about this place and why it was built. I actually think it used to be the first thing you'd see when you started the central computer, but I suspect the previous occupant here tried to get rid of it, it was in a trash folder."

David walked over. The screen in front of Megan was full of glowing text. He stood behind her and began to read.

To you who read this, I hope you fare better in your endeavors than I. I have tried twice now to better the lot of humanity. My first attempt was selfish and unthinking, and may yet result in the end of all human civilization. My second has failed, but I leave it here, in hopes that someday I may return to it. I have poured out all my remaining wealth to build this place, this fortress, this city beneath the desert, but now there is no one to inhabit it.

Humans are losing this war that I, all unknowing, began. Already there is chaos, anarchy and suspicion. Already there has been too much death. I dealt in death once, and I made the ultimate killers. I suspect that they may well kill me one day. They may well kill us all. I built this city to try and undo the wrong I had done, to try and bring together the few of them, my killers, who were willing to fight on the side of humanity, along with the humans who were willing to work with them, and build something that might yet save us all. But it failed. My friends are all dead, and the last of my attempts to redeem myself has come to nothing.

So to you who reads this, I can only hope. I can hope that perhaps you are human. Perhaps you have found a way to defeat my walking dead, but if you have not, know that the one way I know to defeat them is with their own kind. Humanity cannot match them in death, but it is possible for one of them to remember his humanity, to know that he was alive once, and to defend life. I knew one such, and he cannot be the only one among them. That is the purpose of this place, to let them, the vampires, redeem us all, save us from themselves.

With luck or with God's grace I may yet find another like my friend, who is willing to stand against the rising dark, and we can return here to build our city of guardians, but if not, I leave it to you, and can only hope and pray that you use it as it was intended.

"Destiny," breathed David, softly. "This place was built for us."

Megan nodded mutely.

He looked at her. "I thought that your idea was crazy, you know. Enough vampires to defend all the humans, it couldn't be possible. But this..." he trailed off. "I've felt for a long time that I was meant to be the Hunter. You said that you felt a kind of destiny too. I think you're meant to build them, the Guardians, here."

"Destiny." Megan shook her head. "Does that mean that I have no choices of my own, that I can't do anything else?"

David smiled softly, remembering a conversation that seemed lifetimes ago. "Aidan told me once that he felt that the gods put destiny in our paths, but that we can choose to accept it or reject it. I chose to be the Hunter. I could have stayed human. I could have chosen to move on and die. But I chose to be the Hunter, and being the Hunter... there's nothing else that I would rather be.

"So I guess now you get to choose. Your destiny is to be a Guardian. Is there anything else that you would rather be?"

She stared unseeingly at the screen and its message for a long time, then she looked up at David and smiled. "Well, so long as Guardians are allowed to love Hunters, I don't think there is anything else, no."

The End. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme, the Story of Ariana Rhiannon.