Centuries ago, Amelia was bitten by the first vampire Marcus in order to help control the chaos created by Marcus's brother, William, the first Lycan. William's rage could not be controlled, as the Lycan virus spread across the land, it turned people into Lycans or killed all in its path. Amelia had supported locking William within a coffin-like prison, in a remote place where Marcus could not find or release him. Capture of William may not have happened without Amelia's help. She became one of the three Vampire Elders, alongside Marcus and Viktor, but allied with Viktor who sought to undermine Marcus' authority. She did not keep control during her last reign, allowing Lucian to work deals with Tanis for weapons to kill Vampires.
During the events of Underworld, she was at the end of her century long reign, in the year 2003. The Elders had a system to organize their reign of the two great covens stating that every century a different elder is awake and reigns over the covens, while the other two remain in a sleeping state. During an elaborate ceremony, the next elder is awoken with blood from the current one, giving a detailed record of their reign and thus awakening them. Just one day before Amelia was to awaken Marcus, Lycans ambushed her and her entourage on their train. She was bled dry by a Lycan henchman named Raze, in Lucian's plot to turn himself into a Lycan-Vampire hybrid.