Spoilers are off for moments pages.
- Ansel Barbour's subplot in the first book. He has a mentally ill and extremely superstitious wife, and is slowly succumbing to his newfound thirst for blood, which culminates in him feeding on his two dogs, and his aforementioned wife killing herself.
- The Fall has this in spades. It's a Darker and Edgier followup to the first book, which was already grisly in its own right. One such example is Setrakian being forced to kill his wife, who was turned by Eichhorst.
- The entire subplot with Nora's mother, who is suffering from Alzheimer's. It's not played in the narmtastic way the show portrayed it. It doesn't help that she is sent to be slaughtered in the next book, with Nora being unable to do anything about it.
- The death of Setrakian. Sure, it was equal parts Face Death with Dignity, Heroic Sacrifice, Dying as Yourself, and Dying Moment of Awesome, but it's still sad to have to see this kindly old man go. Even Fet tears up when Setrakian makes it clear that he has to die.
- Eph going through a complete and utter Trauma Conga Line over the course of the three books. Recovering from alcoholism and functioning in his day-to-day life as a reasonably decent person, then relapsing when he sees Kelly as a vampire. Not long after, Kelly makes off with Zack and brings him to the Master. Two years after the Master succeeded in his plan to Take Over the World, Eph is a complete mess, turning to drugs in addition to booze, and mutilating vampires under the pretense of trying to discover their weaknesses. He strongly considers handing over the Occido Lumen to the Master on the small chance he'll be allowed to see Zack again.
- Gus is just as much of a wreck as Eph. He holds his vampiric mother in a cell in the library where the survivors are living, regularly self-harming to feed her his own blood, as a form of atonement for being a bad son to her. Needless to say, he is outraged and devastated when Eph kills her.
- Quinlan's backstory. He became a dhampir when the Master fed on his mother while she was pregnant, and when the two of them fled after Caligula's reign came to an end, the Master eventually caught up with them and killed her. Eventually, he met with the Ancients, who appointed him as their headhunter and even gave him a family that he loved dearly. Needless to say, his father caught up with him and killed them, too. With that in mind, it's no wonder he's so determined to destroy the Master, even if it means his own death.
- Eph's Heroic Sacrifice in The Night Eternal. He blows up the Master's site of origin... along with the Master, himself, Zack, and Quinlan.
