The Queen of the Damned

The vampire Lestat, having risen from decades of slumber, has become a world-famous rock star, revealing the secrets of his kind through his music and an autobiography. This blatant violation of vampire secrecy enrages many of his kind. As the concert ends, Lestat, along with his lover Louis and his maker Gabrielle, survives an attack by other vampires, who are mysteriously incinerated by an unseen force. As dawn approaches and Lestat prepares to sleep, he realizes he is not alone in his underground sanctuary. Akasha, the ancient Egyptian queen and the first of all vampires, has been awakened by his music and has come for him.

The narrative then shifts back in time ten days to show events leading up to the concert. A mysterious plague of spontaneous combustion is wiping out vampires across the globe. In St. Louis, a fledgling vampire named Baby Jenks finds her coven destroyed and is herself killed by an invisible force. In various parts of the world, a number of ancient vampires—including Pandora in the Himalayas, the ancient Roman Marius trapped in his icy northern lair, and the amnesiac Khayman in Athens—are plagued by a recurring, shared dream of two red-haired twin sisters performing a cannibalistic ritual. The dream is also experienced by Jesse Reeves, a mortal investigator for a secret paranormal research organization called the Talamasca, and by Daniel Molloy, the mortal companion of the ancient vampire Armand.

Marius, the long-time keeper of the vampire progenitors, Akasha and Enkil, is the first to understand the danger. He discovers that Akasha has awakened, drained her king Enkil of all his blood, and destroyed their shared shrine, leaving Marius trapped under the ice. Pandora, hearing his telepathic cries for help, sets out to find him. Meanwhile, Khayman’s memories are restored when he encounters Akasha in Athens; he recalls being a servant in her ancient Egyptian court and being forced to participate in the violation of the twin witches, Maharet and Mekare. He also remembers Akasha making him the first of her new vampiric children. Realizing Akasha is the source of the global vampire killings, he heads for San Francisco. Jesse, who has a mysterious connection to a long-lived "Great Family" and its matriarch Maharet, defies the Talamasca's orders and also travels to the concert, seeking answers about her own past. Daniel, after being turned into a vampire by a reluctant Armand to save him from a self-destructive spiral, accompanies his maker to the concert, drawn by the same sense of impending climax.

At the concert in San Francisco, various vampire factions gather with the intent to destroy Lestat for his transgressions. As they attack, Akasha appears and incinerates them all with her immense power. She then abducts Lestat, leaving a scene of chaos. In the confusion, a hostile vampire attacks Jesse, breaking her neck. She is rescued by Mael, an ancient vampire in service to Maharet.

Akasha takes Lestat on a worldwide journey, revealing her grand plan: to usher in an era of peace by killing ninety percent of the world's men, whom she sees as the source of all violence and suffering. She forces Lestat to participate in several massacres to demonstrate her power, but he is horrified and refuses to become her consort in this new world order.

Meanwhile, the surviving vampires, including Marius (rescued by Pandora and Santino), Armand, Daniel, Gabrielle, and Louis, gather at a remote compound in California belonging to Maharet. Mael arrives with the dying Jesse, and Maharet saves her by transforming her into a vampire. Maharet then reveals the full origin of their kind. She and her twin sister, Mekare, were powerful witches in ancient Egypt. When they angered Queen Akasha, she had them publicly punished. In retaliation, Mekare cursed Akasha, vowing to one day return and destroy her. Later, when Akasha and King Enkil were assassinated, a vengeful spirit named Amel entered Akasha's dying body, merging with her blood and transforming her into the first vampire. Akasha then passed the "dark gift" to Enkil and, later, to Khayman. As punishment, Akasha had Maharet's eyes removed and Mekare's tongue cut out before setting them adrift on the sea in separate coffins. Maharet explains that the dreams everyone experienced were the psychic cries of Mekare, who has finally awakened and is now drawn to Akasha to fulfill her ancient curse.

Akasha, sensing the gathering, arrives at the compound with Lestat. She presents her ultimatum: join her as gods of a new world or be destroyed. The vampires, led by Marius and Lestat, unanimously refuse to sanction her genocide. As Akasha prepares to annihilate them, Mekare, a wild and primal figure, bursts in and attacks her. In the ensuing battle, the other ancient vampires join forces. Mekare decapitates Akasha and, with Maharet's assistance, consumes her brain and heart. This act transfers the core of the vampiric spirit from Akasha to Mekare. All other vampires experience a moment of shared death before being revived, their existence now linked to Mekare.

In the aftermath, the survivors relocate to Armand's island home near Miami. Mekare, the new queen, is catatonic, and Maharet becomes her eternal guardian, joined by the other ancients who vow to protect her. Lestat, after documenting the events, rejoins the coven, now bound to the silent, slumbering Mekare.