Akivasha

Princess Akivasha is the Pharaoh Tuthamon the Great's eldest daughter and the immortal Stygian vampire princess who existed more than 10,000 years ago before the birth of Conan.

Background
"I am Akivasha! I am the woman who never died, who never grew old! Who fools say was lifted from the earth by the gods, in the full bloom of her youth and beauty, to queen it forever in some celestial clime! Nay, it is in the shadows that mortals find immortality! Ten thousand years ago I died to live for ever! Give me your lips, strong man!"

Robert E. Howard, "The Hour of the Dragon", Chapter 18, "I Am The Woman Who Never Died", Akivasha's past is surrounded in mystery. Its believed that many centuries ago, she was a beautiful teenage Stygian princess that was renowned for her stunning beauty. As such while reveling in the purple feasts amid ancient Luxur's towering black halls, she could not bear the thought of growing old and shriveled with old age, so she sought the favor of the dark gods to gain immortality and eternal youth. With that, Akivasha remained beautiful but would have to consume the blood of the living to perpetuate her youth.

"Her only sin was that she loved life and all the meanings of life. To win life she courted death. She could not bear to think of growing old and shriveled and worn, and dying at last as hags die. She wooed Darkness like a lover and his gift was life -- life that, not being life as mortals know it, can never grow old and fade. She went into the shadows to cheat age and death.

"The Hour of the Dragon", Chapter 18, "I Am The Woman Who Never Died", she met Conan during the events of "Hour of the Dragon" when he came to the Temple of Set searching for the mystical Heart of Ahriman in order to regain the kingdom of Aquilonia from his enemies, including the three-thousand-year-old Pythonian demon sorcerer Xaltotun who had wrongfully usurped the throne from him. She offered to lead him to the sorcerer Thutothemes, who held the Heart. However, within her burial chambers, as she sought to seduce him, he found the empty sarcophagous of Akivasha and he realized her true nature. Nonetheless, she entranced him with her tale and sought to make her companion. As she was about to bite him in the neck, Conan overcame her control by rejecting her in favor of his true love Zenobia and escaped the chamber, leaving the vampiress behind laughing maniacally.

With the Heart of Ahriman in his clasp, Conan used it to make the three-thousand-year-old ancient Stygian sorcerer Thoth-merki guide him out of the pyramid  for his escape homeward while its glowing light thwarted Akivasha and the other supernatural noctural creatures from pursuing him.

Appearance

 * Hour of the Dragon, Her first appearance at The Hour of the Dragon from Weird Tales (1935-1936). Akivasha was being described as a teenage girl born of an ancient Stygian royal bloodline with long black straight hair, green eyes, and pale ivory-white flawless skin.
 * According to the Hour of the Dragon Chapter 18: "I Am The Woman Who Never Died" and chapter 19: "The Hall of the Dead," she first encountered Conan who disguised himself among Thutothemes's entourage in the Temple of Set: A girl stood at the mouth of a smaller tunnel, staring fixedly at him. Her ivory skin showed her to be Stygian of some ancient noble family, and like all such women she was tall, lithe, voluptuously figured, her hair a great pile of black foam, among which gleamed a sparkling ruby. But for her velvet sandals and broad jewel-crusted girdle about her supple waist she was quite nude."
 * Kull The Conqueror, The novelization of the film Kull the Conqueror, written by Sean A. Moore, published by Tor Books.
 * Return of Akivasha, The Return of Akivasha: Book One of the Lost Hyborian Tales, written by Timothy Ford Allen. Akivasha has fled Stygia by gathering her own armies to launch a terryfing invasion against Aquilonia and its rightful rulers, King Conan and Queen Zenobia.

Film

 * Kull the Conqueror - the 1997 film is based on The Hour of the Dragon, replacing Conan with Kull and Xaltotun with Akivasha. The character of Akivasha was played by Tia Carrere.

Video games
In Age of Conan: Unchained, she is a boss in location "Sanctum of the Burning Souls".

Comics

 * Conan the Cimmerian #15 - The Sorrow of Akivasha by Dark Horse Comics, 2009.
 * King Conan: The Conqueror#4 by Dark Horse Comics, 2014.
 * Savage Sword of Conan#10 by Marvel Comics, 1976.

Role-playing game

 * Advanced Dungeons & Dragons
 * Conan Against Darkness!