 At the end of the first novel, Dexter admits that he could not hurt Debra or allow Brian to harm her because he is "fond of her".Dexter likes children, the flip side of this affection is that Dexter is particularly wrathful when his victims prey on children.in the book "Dearly Devoted Dexter", Dexter realized that Rita's son Cody was showing the same signs of sociopathy as Dexter had at that age, and looked forward to providing him with "guidance" similar to that which Harry provided him.