The flood of gold fever was ebbing, when in fall of 1851 Donovan arrived in San Francisco, coming down out of the Sierras, his pockets heavy with gold. It wasn't gold fever that burned in Donovan, but a need to know what he was, why he hadn't died from the Spanish bullet at the Alamo. More important, he craved to once again be like other men, to be cured.  

Then he met Amanda. She told him what he was and made him her fledgling. There was no cure, but he was no longer alone.  

Amanda had come west during the Gold Rush, opened a high class brothel, and prospered. 

Amanda helped Donovan to trace his roots, discovering that his sire had been a Southern Plantation owner named Charles who had died at the Alamo. Amanda and Donovan journeyed back to the South, where he met Roderick and Madelin, Charles' other blood heirs. 

With the American Civil War looming on the horizon, Amanda and Donovan separated. Though originally from the South, Amanda was a pacifist at heart. She refused to participate in the war and returned to California. Donovan decided to stay and fight. It was during the war that Donovan began rescuing newborns.

The American Civil War brought the end to the one of the last great enclave of vampires, the Southern plantations. For years, vampires had prospered, living on the labor and blood of their slaves. After the war, a group of vampires, which included Sir Edmund Horn, Madelin, and Roderick fled the destruction in the South and took shelter with Amanda in California.

In 1875, these vampires decided that they needed some kind of structure and decided to create something new and modern. They formed the Darkhour Corporation. It was a business venture designed to fund Sir Edmund Horn's research. Among the charter members  were Amanda, Donovan, Sir Edmund Horn, Priscella, Madelin, Roderick, Don Diego, Sandy, and Cassandra.

In 1876, following Sir Edmund Horn's theories the first second generations, Valentine and Earl, were transformed. Sir Edmund Horn believed that having five sires would solve the problem of line stability, the fact that when a parent died, their get or offspring would weaken and die. He also utilized Mendall's genetic theory to choose individuals most likely to survive the change. Valentine was a distant relative of Amanda's and Earl was a cousin of Donovan's orphaned during the Civil War. 

After Bram Stoker published Dracula in 1897, the first vampire conference was held in London. It was clear that the interest in vampires was increasing and that they must do something to prevent discovery. Until that time, whenever a vampire fed, they exchanged blood. Sir Edmund Horn said it was irresponsible to leave a trail of potential vampires behind you, vampires you couldn't control. He recommended a ban on blood exchange and the use of genetics to determine those most likely to survive the change and the use of five sires to insure vampire survival. Although not all vampires agreed with Sir Edmund, many did.

The Darkhour Corporation continued to prosper, diversifying into a wide range of businesses, many, although not all, support the vampire life style, such as Weber and Kleine Security, which handles vampire security and helps create new identities for vampires, a number of blood banks, a winery, an automobile manufacturer. The stock is all held by vampires. The Board of Directors also serves as the ruling body for the vampire community.

The Darkhour Corporation is not the only group of vampires, but it is one of the largest and most successful.