“Yes I do!” Jesse’s barely aware of the fact that she’s crying now, tears trickling silently down her cheeks. “How can I not? You sacrificed yourself for me, Dad!” She takes a step forward before she forces herself to stop, finding it hard to breathe through her desperation. “And I know how much it would destroy you to lose control and hurt someone else, or kill them. I’m the logical choice. I’m the one person you won’t lose control with. That you won’t hurt. That you can’t. You would never hurt me. Let alone kill me. So I’m the only one who makes sense.”

At least until she finishes working on the blood substitute that she’s been working on in secret. Then he won’t have to worry ever again. And she’s close. SO CLOSE to being finished. “It wouldn’t be for very long. I promise.”