Dusk Till Dawn

XV

7 days later

The CSI's were working around the clock to find the missing mother and child. Now the wolves were finally released and were trying to find their scents once again. The white canine was going crazy as he tried to find the scent. Nick stood next to the door of Maria's bedroom as he stared at everything that was left as she had it. Nothing was moved, not even an inch. The blood-splattered was cleaned up and was also collected and sent to the lab as they found out who they were looking for and what he looked like. Sangwoo was a lean built man with hair that is a light shade of brown on the top with a black undercut. He also has bags under his eyes. He is wanted for numerous kills of men and women in Korea. His victims were stripped of their clothing except for underwear, women with no bras. And with broken ankles. Nick jumped as he heard barking from the living room as Nick noticed the gray wolf with scarred X in the middle of the chest running towards the door before scratching at the knob as one of the officers opened it as Nick ran out. "Call backup, one of the dogs found a scent," Nick reported into his radio as he got into his truck as he saw the dog run off with the two others following close by. 

Nick revved up his truck as he drove behind the wolves that were gaining speed as the main wolf kept his eye on the prize as he never slowed his pace once he hit the main streets. There Nick saw the different police cars stopping to see where the grey wolf ran off as he turned down an alleyway. He must be going down a short cut, or maybe the man grabbed her and drove her this way. Tsume stopped as he started to sniff before bursting out high speed. He finally slowed down in front of an old but modern home that was growing flowers around the house as the concrete had weeds sticking out of the ground. The gray wolf started to walk around to the side of the house and started sniff at a small window before whimpering and trying to dig at the window, but that was not doing anything. Nick got out with Brass stopping his vehicle and entering the property as officers walked onto the porch and knocked on the door. "Open up! It's the LVPD! Sangwoo!" Brass announced as he held out his gun while Nick pulled out his gun as Brass nodded to the officer who was next to the door and kicked it open as there was a girl screaming as Nick saw the small girl that they have been looking for. "Mae! It's just us, where's your mother?" Nick ran over to her as she pointed to the door as she spoke. "In the basement, Daddy's down there with her," She says as Nick grew tensed as he turned to Brass nodded. 

Nick ran over to the basement door and opened it as he heard gasping and groaning of pain, this caused more intensity into the man as he ran down and held his gun up as he walked over to a room as he saw the door was wide open. There he saw a female laying down with her eyes wide open as a man stood over her with a bloody knife in his hand as Nick called out to the man. "Hands up!" He called out as Sangwoo turned and looked at the police as he smiled to see that the officers were here. "So you finally found us," He chuckled as he dropped the knife as it fell onto the hard concrete floor, sounding a large clashing noise throughout the whole basement. Nick looked at the woman that he was with was now laying on the ground, she was all cut up, but still breathing as she whimpered out. Her eyes were still staring at the ground while the man turned and kicked her in the abdomen as she groans and turns while having her back towards him. His eyes saw the many lacerations on her back which was bleeding as Nick clutched his gun. "Get down! Now!" He screams as he stares at Maria who was now starting to tremble because of all the cuts. "Maria..." Nick called as he didn't notice Sangwoo went to grab the gun that was in the investigator's hand as Nick was pushed down on the ground as Sangwoo wrestled the gun before he was the one who became the new owner of it before pointing it to Nick. "You made a horrible choice of being here," He says before he points the muzzle to Maria's body before pulling the trigger as the deafening noise echoed throughout the whole basement as Brass came running down to see the body on the floor with blood pooling out of her as Nick was now next to her body while Sangwoo was rushed. 

"We need a medic!" 

The sounds of the machines beeping all around the room echoed into my ears as I groaned. My body felt like I was on fire when I fell asleep, the last thing I remembered was the loud shot that echoed through the whole basement. I looked down at my feet as I saw they were leveled up as I noticed they were both in heavy casts. They were raised up as I felt no pain, I remember they were both broken, and it was Sangwoo's doing. Wait, Sangwoo?! I opened my eyes before perking up and looking around. I was in a bright white room, I was in hospital blue gown. I brought my right hand to pull down to look at my chest to see bright white hospital bandages around my chest and down my stomach. I was about to push myself up as I knew I needed to find my daughter but suddenly a nurse rushed in and pushed me back down onto the hospital bed. "Stay down, Ms. Clancy," She says as I looked at her. "Where is she? Where is my Daughter? Where is Mae?" I asked as she pulls away. "She is alright, she is safe, and the culprit who did this to you is in prison," She says as I leaned my head back. For several days, under the watchful eyes of Sangwoo, he would not hurt me in front of our daughter, always making up excuses that I got in trouble and that I was in timeout. I knew he wanted me to be this perfect mother to Mae, even though all I wanted is to protect her from his evil. 

He was manipulating her to believing that he was this great person who did not one thing, bad and that he was looking for her to try and free himself from this evil. I knew if she wasn't found right away, she would grow up to be like her father. Where he would bring females or males and sleep with them before destroying legs and then killing them, then going onto the next. "Your daughter didn't stain any injuries from the monster, but you sustained many different injuries, your ankles looked like they were almost shattered but it seems your gonna be able to walk in a few months or so, but you will have to stay in bed for a while before that can happen. You must also go under a lot of physical therapy," She says as she started to check on all my vitals before she straightens up and smiles at me.

"I will tell your visitors you are awake. You're very lucky, a handsome looking man has been standing outside your room, hardly will ever leave at all. Even when he is called in for work, he will go and then come back. Even on breaks, he'll be here, waiting to see if you would wake up," She says as she walks off, but I called out to her. "How long have I been out?" I asked her as she stopped in her tracks. "A week, you sustained so much pain, and I mean a lot of pain because there was a bullet lodged into your arm," she points to her own arm on where I had been hit as I nodded as she walked out. So that's what I heard, a gunshot. I looked down at my left arm to see that she was right, there was a bandage, wrapped around that part as I sighed and leaned my head back. 

I heard the door opened as I looked to see Stokes walking in, almost like he was in a rush as he grabbed onto my fingers. "You're alright, thank god," he says as sits down in one of the chairs that was in my room. "I thought you were gonna leave this world, you lost so much blood. When I found you, you were just so messed up," Nick explains as I croaked at him. "It's ok," I told him as he started to whimper. I pull my fingers away from his own and patted his head to calm him down. We were like that for quite some time until he finally composed himself wiping away the tears as I pushed myself further into the pillows. "So I'm guessing you're here to take my statement," I hummed out as he nods before pulling out a small notebook and a pen as I sighed and looked at him. "Before I tell you anything, answer me this. Where is Mae?" I asked as he stared at me. "She is still here in Las Vegas, her parents are actually here with her. Waiting to see you, but I rather get the statement now and then let you see her," Nick says as I sighed and nodded before taking a deep breath. "Tell me how you knew the suspect," he says as he clicks the pen and started to write down the story of how I knew Sangwoo. After finishing, my voice was now hoarse, so I became quiet and looked at Nick who finally finished writing and got up as he called to the nurse to bring in Mae and her family.
Once my daughter's eyes fell upon me, they started to water as she ran over to my bed and threw herself onto my torso as I felt the wind get knocked out of me as I looked down at the crying child as I put my arms around her as I cradled her close to me. "I'm sorry mommy," She cried as I sighed and stayed quiet as kept her close as her adoptive parents came in while staring at me as I sighed knowing this was going to be a long talk, but I want to wait until she was asleep. I rubbed her back for an hour as she cried herself to sleep as I watched her parents sit down beside my bed. "I'm sorry, this has come to this," I apologized as they looked at each other.