neck.
She bounded on top of another elephant, ripped the sword from its disoriented owner’s hand, and decapitated him.
She leapt from elephant to elephant, tracking down each vampire, attacking with the sword.
In moments, she had killed nearly all of them, all too shaken to react on time.
Except for one, and he managed to dodge her strike. He spun around, and cracked her hard in the back of the head with his shield.
She felt the pain in her head as she fell to her face.
He jabbed his spear right for her throat, but she rolled out of the way just in time.
She leaned back and kicked him hard, right in the groin, and as he knelt down, she spun to the side and kicked him hard across the face. He went down.
She jumped to her feet, raised her sword, and before he could get up again, she decapitated him.
The stunned stadium was completely silent for a moment.
Then, suddenly, as one, they all jumped to their feet, roaring her name.
The judge, outraged, leapt to his feet.
“BRING IN THE GIANT!” he yelled.
Before Caitlin could catch her breath, another side compartment opened, and in rushed a massive giant.
The crowd roared.
Caitlin’s eyes opened wide in disbelief. She had never seen a monster like this. This creature was at least one hundred feet tall, and, like a Cyclops, had just one eye, in the center of its head. She didn’t imagine that such things even walked the earth, and she could see its muscles rippling out in every direction.
It leaned back its head and roared, and the Coliseum shook; if possible, it was even louder than the roar of the elephants.
Caitlin swallowed. She had no idea how to fight a creature like this.
Before she could even react, the giant, surprising her with its speed, took a huge step towards her, swiped his hand down and swatted her.
Caitlin was thrown across the Stadium, hundreds of feet, slamming into a wall, and felt the wind knocked out of her.
The crowd roared.
Caitlin was on the ground, her head killing her, trying to catch her breath. She was still in shock that something that big could move that fast.
The giant swung again, bringing his fist down to crush her.
She rolled out of the way just in time, and the blow left a huge hole in the earth, where the giant’s hand got lodged.
Caitlin rolled over, grabbed her sword, and in one quick move, brought it down hard on the giant’s wrist, before he could extract his fist.
It worked: she managed to chop off his hand.
The giant leaned back and screeched, blood squirting like a river from his arm, all over her, all over the vampire audience. Instead of being horrified by it, the vampires seemed to relish it, even tried to lap up the blood as it landed on them.
The giant, in a fury, chased after Caitlin with a vengeance. But it was too clouded by anger. It couldn’t think straight. It swept at her wildly with its free hand, missing each time. Caitlin ran and ran, trying to make it to the long javelin she saw in the distance.
Finally, she made it. She grabbed it, rolled hard, just missing the giant’s swipe, and then leaned back and hurled it with all she had, aiming right for the giant’s eye.
A direct hit. The long javelin went through the giant’s eye, and out the other side.
For a second, the giant froze. Then like an enormous tree, it fell sideways. It crashed to the ground, shaking the Coliseum so hard that it knocked the vampires out of their seats.
The crowd went crazy. It jumped to its feet, roaring and roaring.
“She has won clemency!” the crowd members screamed. “Let her free. Let her free!”
A huge chorus of approval ripped through the stadium.
But the judge did not give in. Instead, he looked at Kyle, who nodded back, and then he stood.
The crowd quieted.
“Bring in our last warrior!” he yelled.
Caitlin was so tired, so out of breath, so disoriented. She couldn’t imagine what else they had to throw at her. She felt confident that, whatever it was, she would not have the energy left to face it.
The doors opened, and out came a single warrior, a man about her size, about her height, looking a lot like her. He wore dark, fitted armor, and held a gleaming sword and shield.
His helmet up, she could clearly see his face.
It was the one warrior she knew she could never kill.
Facing her, was her brother Sam.
Caitlin’s heart whirled with emotions.
Sam. Her little brother. Here. Back in time. In Rome. In the Coliseum of all places. On the one hand, she was thrilled to see him.
On the other, he stood there, in battle gear, facing her down, a weapon in hand. And with a look on his face meant to kill. How could this be?
How had it come to this? What had they done to him?
She could sense, even from this great distance, that he was a vampire. She tried to sense his feelings towards her, but it was obscured. As if he were deliberately blocking them.
More than anything, she felt sad. Betrayed. Confused. Was it not enough that he’d had to ruin things for her in the 21st century? Had he had to come back now, and still make things hard for her?
And after all that she had done for him. All through his life, she had always looked out for him, always been the one he could turn to. She’d always tried to help him, to save him.
Had it really come to this? Did he really hate his own sister enough to kill her? Or was he just still dazed? Under the influence of this evil coven’s spell?
“Sam!” she yelled out. “It’s me! Caitlin. Your sister!”
She hoped that by vocalizing it, he would come to himself, would recognize her, snap out of it, lay down his weapons.
“I don’t want to fight you!” she yelled. “I don’t want to hurt you!”
The crowd booed.
Sam walked out towards the center, closer and closer to her. But instead of dropping his weapons, as she’d hoped, he lowered his face mask with a definitive clang, and raised his sword and shield.
The crowd roared in approval. Even Kyle smiled down.
Caitlin’s heart pounded. She really didn’t want to hurt her little brother.
Before she could think, before she could decide what to do, she found herself being charged by Sam.
He swung his sword down at her with a ferocious speed, and Caitlin barely managed to duck out of the way.
The crowd roared.
“Sam!” she cried, desperate, and afraid. She was afraid he would hurt her—but even more, afraid she might be forced to hurt him. “Listen to me! Please!”
But he swung at her again, and she leaned back and barely missed the below. He was faster than she had thought, and extremely powerful.
As he came at her with a flurry of blows, she raised her shield. She blocked them, but she felt herself getting
