Murdered for revenge: Rita aka Julie Benz

Dexter's long-time girlfriend with her druggie ex-husband and two children was the light to Dexter's dark - and after having 4 seasons with Dexter as girlfriend, fiancée and then wife - was murdered by the Trinity Killer at the end of Season 4. It's only in the beginning of Season 5 does Dexter realize how much he had loved Rita and what a gap she had left. Also the mother of his child, Harrison - Dexter's finds Rita in a pool of her own blood with Harisson beside her - reminiscent of Dexter's own tragedy when Henry Morgan find him crying in a pool of his mother's blood. This was by far, one of the most shocking deaths in the history of TV.

Killed by Dexter: Lila aka Jaime Murray

She played Lila Tourney in Dexter's Season 2 and from initially being painted as a fun-loving addict who also becomes Dexter's Narcotics Anonymous Sponsor, her darker side soon comes to fore. She believes Dexter to be her soulmate and even kills off James Doakes who gets to know that Dexter is in fact the Bay Harbour Butcher. But when Dexter refuses to be with her she kidnaps Astor & Cody and tries to set them on fire. Dexter manages to rescue them on time and in the end, slips into Lila's Paris apartment and kills her. However it is with Lila that Dexter actually explores his sexuality and realizes how much of a release sex can be!

The one that got away: Lumen aka Julia Stiles

Lumen Ann Pierce enters Dexter's life in Season 5 while he's still trying to come to terms with the loss of his wife and the responsibility of raising his son, Harisson alone. While on the hunt for his next target, he ends up rescuing Lumen who has been tortured and raped by a group of men - he wants to kill her off as evidence but seeing that she's innocent, his "code" does not allow him to. He asks her to leave but Lumen is haunted by her torture and manages to kill one of her attackers - panicking, she calls Dexter to help her dispose of the body. Dexter then helps her kill all of her attackers one by one and in the end, they become lovers. Lumen exists the scene afterwards, telling Dexter that she does not feel the need to kill anymore but that his secret would forever remain safe with her.

Betrayed by Dexter: Hannah aka Yvonne Strahovski

She's as dark as him - from Alabama, Hannah went on a three-day killing spree with her boyfriend Wayne Randall and once caught, turned state witness - he went to jail while she walked free. While she claimed to be innocent during the killing spree, Dexter later discovers that she did kill at least one woman and then more people whom she judges to have wronged her - Dexter mounts a plan and asks her out and tries to kill her in his usual style. Naked, bound and gagged and wrapped in cellophane - Hannah refuses to beg for her life and Dexter is drawn like a moth to the flame - they have torrid sex and it is through her that Dexter realizes that he can control his so-called dark passenger. However when Debra refuses to stop investigating Hannah and lands up almost killing herself - when she falls asleep on the wheel - Dexter realizes that in order to protect Debra, he has to stop Hannah. Her sets Hannah up and she's arrested over the recent murder of an investigative author that she had committed.

Love or hate: Debra nee Jennifer Carpenter

Dexter's long-suffering sister who believed that she was in love with him - was Henry Morgan's biological daughter who always felt that she played second fiddle to her adoptive brother Dexter - and yet never begrudged him for that. She was Dexter's rock - believing him to be a better human being than her and always looks up to him until the cliffhanger of Season 6 when she finds him having murdered Travis Marshall aka the Doomsday Killer. Season 7 shows her helping him get rid of the evidence and slowly she comes to realize how much of a smog she's been living in. Season 7 shows her killing LaGuerta in an attempt to save her brother, again. And yet Season 8 shows her trying to kill both Dexter and herself by driving their car into a lake - love prevails and she rescues him back - now it's a wait and watch to see if their almost-over relationship can get any darker, or any better!

Read More: Dexter Season 8 Spoilers, Is Zach the new Dexter and Who Dies in Season 8...