Leaving the LightBy: Christine Schnell

Since becoming a vampire, Toni's gotten herself into many difficult situations. The humans who once were her friends now feel betrayed by her. Even her own creation, Sabertooth, seemed determined to turn against them all. Lacey especially had reason to not trust her as she nearly killed her, yet she remained her friend. She's killed several people including the man who was like a father to her. She's found that not only is she telepathic, but she has relived some of her own past lives, as well as the lives of those who's souls she has taken. And with those past realizations she's happened across the fact that she is somehow related to Bram. Even while worrying about what all these past incidents mean, she must also worry about her future, it's not only the vampires and slaves who believe she will one day become Queen, but also Velren, who mysteriously seems to know more about her than she knows herself. She also found she had a taste for a certain type of blood: vampire blood.

All of this culminated into her most significant suicide attempt. She tied herself to trees and waited for the sun to bake her only to nearly be killed by Velren, but instead saved by a couple hiking drug addicts and Bram guiding their way. With Bram she began to recover but killed an innocent wannabe Vampire, Jocelyn. With her future now uncertain because of all this, Keir sends them on a mission of redemption, or is it a trap? Her hunger grows and she attacks more people killing them and creating disaster in her wake while Bram tries to keep her under control. They don't go unnoticed as two sicari (hunters) who also happen to be vampires follow her trail. After catching up with her, she kills one of them lusting after his vampire blood. That was Thomas, a man sent after her by Keir and who believed Bram made him a vampire, and now she'll have to deal with his emotions towards them as well. But she's unable to get to the second due to the amount of bullets hitting her, she and Bram are taken down. It doesn't take long for Kama and Urquhart to come to their rescue, and with their help she doesn't kill the other sicarus but befriends him.

Toni's ordered directly by the King to bring in a new slave. But like all the choices in her life, this one might send her down a worse path. She has found a bartender named Roy who knows who and what they are and apparently Keir and Bram both know him. Now she's back home and finds things have changed while she was away, but is given something more pressing to deal with. Keir's forcing her to make future plans for herself among the vampires to fulfill the prophecy. He's also keeping her fit by testing her in every way possible, including her patience in her relationship with Bram. The Queen then tasks Toni with tracking down some drugs that pose a danger to the gens. As part of her investigation, and her plan to get out of the gens, she asks Keir to give her guard duty. Honing her skills for guard duty proves harder than expected as well, when the tournament arrives. Gwen, trying to take advantage of a favor Toni owed her looked to get Toni to let her out of the domus. Instead, Toni made her give up information on the drugs she's trafficking. Taking it one step further, she got Bram to give up information he's been keeping from her as well, revealing secrets to many questions she's had over the years.