My hairstylist asked what I was reading, I told her The Vampire Chronicles. She had never heard of it, so I said "You know, Interview With the Vampire with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt?" To which she replied, "NO! How have I not heard of a movie with those two?? When did it come out?" I thought about it and replied, "Around 1993." (It was actually 1994). She had never heard of it because she was like 3 years old when it came out. Yeah. And make sure to cover those gray hairs for me...
Long story short, Maharet and Mekare were witches in ancient Egyptian times and introduced the spirit Amel to the king and queen of Kemet. Amel fused with the blood of the king and queen, thus creating vampires. In the end, the king and queen passed the curse on to Maharet and Mekare, making them vampires as well, and separated them.
Mekare, her tongue cut out and separated from her sister went quite mad, roaming the jungles for thousands of years. When the time was right, she returned to vanquish Akasha and become the Queen of the Damned herself.