Born and raised in Cairo, Egypt, to an Egyptian archeologist and a curator for the museum specializing in ancient Egypt, Layla was immersed in ancient Egypt all her life. As she grew, she became fascinated with and studied ancient Egypt, learning everything she could. When Layla was 8, her parents were killed while in the desert and she was sent to the temple in Cairo where she was taught more of ancient Egypt by one of the priests there, Djer Shaimi.

A very intelligent girl, and always a quick study, Layla graduated high school at the top of her class, and immediately started college, where she studied ancient Egypt and ancient Egyptian occult. After graduating college, also at the top of her class, she returned to Cairo, to the temple. She continued to learn from Djer, becoming his ghoul, then later his childe.

When she awoke to her new world of the vampire, she had discovered that many things had changed…. The most apparent was her eyes. Not only did she now view the world differently, her eyes now glowed, forcing her to always wear sunglasses when not alone with Kindred.