A/N: I'm sorry this chapter was a long time in coming. Even though I am a bit ahead of the story, I swore to myself that I will only post a chapter if another one is written and, the last chapter I worked on was incredibly difficult to write for many, many reasons. Plus, sometimes, you just get the damned BLOCK - writer's block. What are ya gonna do?

Once again I'd like to thank each and every one of you that leaves a review. You don't know how incredible your support has been. This has not been an easy story to write. Frankly, my first (and incredibly crappy) drafts were begun back in February. Seeing the way people are responding to it really makes me want to see it through to the end. Thank you all so much.

So, without too much more ado, I give you the Viking's POV.

Chapter 11

Craig Sutherfield. Well at least something fell into place. Now I knew how they got a listening device on Sookie in New Orleans, but why? Who was he working for?

Our plane arrived in Caracas at approximately four in the morning. We disembarked and, almost immediately, several cars and a truck pulled up. De Castro's people were nothing if not efficient and, within moments, we were in the cars, the coffins were in the truck and the drivers were waiting on my instructions.

I bent my attention to the bond. She was close! She was very, very close. I stepped out of the car, closed my eyes and began to track her, to feel her. I turned in the direction of the runway. There were three planes lined up for take off. I could feel her in one of them.

I began to run towards them, but even vampire speed cannot outmatch jet engines and, before I could cross the airport to the side that was dealing with outbound traffic, the last of the planes was already taxiing. It did not matter. I could feel it, the one she was on had already taken off.

With a howl that shook the windows of the nearest building, I let my rage and frustration out. So fucking close! How did they know? Did they have someone on the inside?

I looked back at the group of people waiting, now gathered around the cars. The only real unknowns were Sandy and Ian. However, you do not live for a thousand years and not learn to read people, even vampires. I trusted Ian. I understood the pain I saw in his eyes. And, Sandy was not the type to turn. No, something did not add up.

Amelia ran up to me. "Where is she?"

"Gone."

"What the hell do you mean 'gone'?"

"She was on one of the planes that just took off."

"Then let's go. Let's get back on the plane and you track her!" She shrieked.

I turned my full glare on her then, and she shut the fuck up.

"It does not work that way. I cannot just follow her in flight. She needs to be . . . somewhere. We cannot just take off and try to follow her trajectory. Plus, our plane needs to be refueled. We have no idea where they are going. The sun is going to rise in just under two hours. We need to find out what we can about where they were. Perhaps they left something behind that will tell us where they are going."

The mood in the car was somber. I was riding with Pam, Amelia, Calvin and Sam. Mercifully, Alcide was with Sandy, Bill and Ian. If I had to listen to the pup growl anymore, I might have torn his head off.

I still had a vague sense of where Sookie had been, so we headed from the airport. We did not have far to travel. Simon Bolivar Airport is not too far from the water. We pulled up to a small harbor and told the driver to stop. I got out of the car and began to walk towards one of the freighters. I felt Sam come up on my right.

"She was there." He said, pointing to the freighter. "I can smell her."

"I know." I replied. As we got closer, I could also smell blood. We stepped aboard and discovered the bodies of several men, still holding their weapons.

I could not hear anyone else aboard. I looked at Sam and he nodded in agreement.

I followed the now clear trail of Sookie's scent to one of the storage rooms below deck. As soon as I opened the door, I could smell her blood.

I turned to the group, because of course, everyone but the drivers had followed us on board, and told them to spread out and search the ship.

Only Pam and Sam accompanied me into the room. I saw a bare mattress on the floor, a chair in the middle of the room, and an open and empty cabinet against one wall. There was nothing else in the room.

I walked over to the mattress and was relieved to find only Sookie's scent on it. I felt a pang of relief that his was not on it as well, although I think I may have felt that particular horror through the bond, separate and apart from the pain she had endured.

Her blood was splattered across the chair, and lay in a few small puddles on the floor, but in reality, it was not a lot. Sutherfield knew how to inflict a lot of pain with very little loss of blood. Now that I knew it was him, I could identify his scent throughout the room.

I heard Sam whisper softly from across the room, so softly only a vampire would hear, "oh chère."

However, other than her blood and his scent, nothing else was left behind.

We met on deck. Sandy spoke first.

"We know why the fairies cannot find her. This ship is filled with iron ore. The entire cargo is iron ore."

Amelia sucked in a deep breath. "There is no way they can find her if she's shielded by iron. They must be transporting her with it too, or else they'd be able to find her on the plane."

"Eric," Pam warned.

I looked at the sky and I felt it as well. There was less than an hour left before dawn. Our group silently made its way to the cars, which took us to our hotel. It was agreed that Amelia, Sam, Calvin and Alcide, were going to return to the ship later and see if they could track anyone from there or, find any living witnesses. Anything, anyone, that might give us an advantage.

I know, I'm terrible with the short chapters, but hey, at least you got another question answered right?