Maatkare Hatshepsut

The ancient female pharaoh, Maatkare Hatshepsut, lived a very strange and very long life. Hatshepsut (/hætˈʃɛpsʊt/; also Hatchepsut; Egyptian: ḥꜣt-šps.wt “Foremost of Noble Ladies”; 1507–1458 BC) was the fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. She was the second historically-confirmed female pharaoh, the first being Sobekneferu. (Various other women may have also ruled as pharaohs regent or at least regents before Hatshepsut, as early as Neithhotep around 1600 years prior.)

Hatshepsut came to the throne of Egypt in 1478 BC. Her rise to power was noteworthy as it required her to utilize her bloodline, education, and an understanding of religion. Her bloodline was impeccable as she was the daughter, sister, and wife of a king. Her understanding of religion allowed her to establish herself as the God's Wife of Amun. Officially, she ruled jointly with Thutmose III, who had ascended to the throne the previous year as a child of about two years old. Hatshepsut was the chief wife of Thutmose II, Thutmose III's father. She is generally regarded by Egyptologists as one of the most successful pharaohs, reigning longer than any other woman of an indigenous Egyptian dynasty. It was during her reign that the Nightbred first came into the world.

Reigning in the Age of Myths, when the vibratory dimensions still thrummed at frequencies that allowed spirits and mortals to more easily traverse them, Nuit came down from the heavens to visit Hatshepsut. The god, Ra, had imprisoned Nuit’s children, and the goddess had grown weary of the day and night cycle. She implored Hatshepsut to make her the main god of all of Egypt and usher eternal night onto the Earth. She also sweetened the deal by offering to make Hatshepsut immortal, never having to face death or Anubis. Hatshepsut, like most pharaohs, desired eternal life- all the more if she could rule in the Physical World, forever. And, as such, she acquiesced to the goddess. The long fangs of Nuit pressed into her neck, and the next day, Hatshepsut’s corpse was found in her garden. Interred in her famous Mortuary Temple at Deir el-Bahari-the following night, she rose from the dead.

Mourners were still visiting her tomb before it would be sealed, and watched in fascination as her sarcophagus opened and she emerged. To her people, this was a sign, and they fell to their knees in reverence as Hatshepsut looked over them. Within Hatshepsut’s mind, Nuit’s voice spoke, for now they were entwined, spiritually. She discarded her crook and flail to the stone floor and the clattering caused the precession to pause in their prayers of joy and look up to their pharaoh. Casting her arms back, the flames of the temple vanished and an eerie blue darkness hung in the chamber. Hatshepsut told them that she had made a bargain with Nuit and that her people no longer needed to fear for anything. She told them that Ra, the sun, would forever hide and that the Egyptians would now claim the world as their own! She ordered the nearest person to her, beckoning them into her waiting arms, and then bit their neck. Being the first vampire, her bite was potent, and as the last drop of blood left the body, that person rose instantly as a vampire. The ignorant had no idea that Nuit was spreading her influence and power, and these people trusted in their pharaoh.

The next day, the sun did not rise. Night remained over Egypt. In the ancient world, this caused calamity as it could be witnessed by the nearby nations. Within a week, the Nightbred had spread rapidly without sunlight or anyone capable of stopping them. People in Egypt did not realize that this blessing meant the loss of their humanity. As the curse spread, the night over Egypt grew darker and Nuit’s power grew stronger. Nuit openly walked among the people, relishing her ever growing power as their souls fed her. As thousands became undead, finally, priests of the other gods resisted and some people revolted. The balance of life was undone.

Ra could no longer ignore the plight of his worshippers.  He came into the world from the Inner Light, and found Nuit in the royal gardens where she had seduced Hatshepsut.  Ra told the goddess that balance must be maintained lest war erupt in other dimensions spilling over onto the Physical World.  The Physical World is required to exist in order to produce souls and power for the other planes of existence.  Nuit harbored anger at the sun-god for he had taken her children.  He explained this was done to maintain the balance of life in the world that her children brought chaos and had to be removed for life and souls to exist on the Earth.  She refused to give up her souls and power, and Ra called upon the Light.

The two gods fought with all their might as the very world around them ripped, burned, and tore apart with their fury. However, Ra’s Light shone fiercely upon Nuit, and her darkness fell before it. Banished, she returned to the Outer Darkness. Yet, Ra was not finished in his task, for he knew that balance would need to be restored. Day suddenly erupted as the magically induced night ended, and countless vampires who happened to be in the open spaces at that instant were destroyed by the light. Hatshepsut, however, and some others were in tombs or darker places at that moment. Ra could not destroy them all, but if he, the sun, were to see a Nightbred, his gaze would annihilate them- that is why vampires cannot exist in sunlight. Ra travelled to the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut and found her lurking in the shadows.

He told the pharaoh of the sins that she committed in Nuit’s name, and that her selfishness had caused untold calamity. He told her that balance would be maintained and that she must atone. He cast his light upon her, but left her form intact. Free of Nuit’s influence, she filled with righteous light and fury. He charged her with ending the vampiric blight on Egypt, and Ra bestowed an artifact to her, the Sunstone, and inlaid it upon her crown. Then, he ascended again to the higher planes, leaving her to solve the problems that she had created for mankind. Hatshepsut, once the queen of vampires, now became the bane of them as she again rose from her temple, this time to eradicate the very corruption that she had helped spread. She managed to save Egypt from destruction and eliminated the Cult of the Night, but the priests of the many gods had determined that Hatshepsut was too powerful. They banded together, and using powerful magicks, forced her back into her mortuary temple and sealed her within her tomb. Handfuls of vampires survived and fled to other lands across the world avoiding the sun and death. And, Hatshepsut, remained sealed inside her temple, still bestowed with eternal life so long as Ra’s artifact the Sunstone remained, crowning her forever in his holy light. However, almost two millennia later, the lilin demon, Dionyza, came into the tomb. Having enthralled an English archaeologist and Egyptologist named Howard Carter, the pair came into the tomb and there stood Hatshepsut. She and the succubus fought, and Dion was nearly destroyed, but she used Carter like a meat puppet and had him grab the Sunstone infused crown from Hatshepsut’s head. The pharaoh finally met her end, shriveling and becoming nothing more than a pile of dust. Dionyza then claimed the Sunstone and with the help of the witch, Eleanora Blackwood, she would turn it into the Shadowstone embedded in a ring known as Lilith’s Love.