Rhen groaned at the burning pain in her forearms from the game tug of war she was playing with the minotaur and the scourge. She leaned back on her heels to shift her weight and let gravity assist the pull. Her eyes watched the flow of the sickly tar crawling over every inch of the minotaur feeling its power consuming the beast's energy. Her scourge quickly took the last snap out grabbing the hoof that broke free before settling contently in place giving the tar the edge it needed to seal the deal. Once the minotaur was contained Rhen let out a sigh looking over to Celeste whose arms just fell lifelessly beside her body "Cellie!".<br/><br/>Rhen dropped the hilt of her scourge and ran quickly towards her mate, she passed Nadia who was holding the fender preparing to deal the final blow. She was thankful Nadia was there to take care of the minotaur so she could take care of Celeste. Rhen fell to her knees and placed a hand on Celeste's chest. She felt the rise and fall of each shallow breath, she also felt the magic coursing through her veins. Both of those facts gave her a small amount of reassurance and twisted comfort. Celeste passing out didn't happen often, but it made Rhen's chest ache each time. She couldn't imagine a life without her mate and events like this were painful reminders that no one was invincible.<br/><br/>As Celeste began to wake, Rhen tucked an arm around her back and assisted her in lifting herself off the ground. She leaned her forehead against her wife's temple, kissed her cheek, and whispered a false statement, "You are going to kill me with those scares, instant heartache I swear." She inhaled the scent of her lover and shifted her arm lower around Celeste's waist to continue the assist. When she turned back toward the minotaur her eyes grew wide. It was a gory sight with blood everywhere, including on Nadia. As Rhen and Celeste started to move past the minotaur, Rhen placed a soft hand on Nadia's shoulder patting it, "Deep Breaths Nadia, you handled yourself well tonight." She let her hand fall away feeling the tension in Nadia's body.<br/><br/>Continuing to move from the minotaur's body, Rhen paused releasing Celeste to reach down and free her scourge from under the beast. She rolled it up and snapped it back into place on her belt. She then pulled an enchanted knife from her ankle holster to remove the minotaur's horns from its body. A magical beast like this didn't appear often and the horns were a 'unicorn' ingredient in many ancient potions. In a fluent motion, the knife sliced through the bone like butter. She cleaned the blade on her pant leg, slid it into the holster, and then tucked both of the horns under her belt. She repositioned herself against Celeste as she mentioned going home. "I second that plan. Let's get everyone back to the house. Mix up a drink and celebrate the win."<br/><br/>Rhen was exhausted and her adrenaline started to wear off leaving her body aching. She was beginning to realize that she had a few injuries including a set of broken or bruised ribs. Nonetheless, she used herself as a crutch for Celeste back to the house.<br/><br/>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------<br/>Pushing the front door open Rhen took Celeste into the kitchen and helped her sit in the bar stool at the counter before. As everyone else flowed into the room, Rhen headed back towards the front door through the dark hall. No one had flipped a light on so it was dim and hard to see. Just before she reached the door she stumbled over a bag on the ground. She cursed regaining her balance,<i>who left a bag in the middle of the floor?, </i>she thought to herself as she bent over lifting it off the ground. With the free hand she pushed the door shut then opened the hall closet and put the bag away.<br/><br/>The first thing Rhen noticed when she rejoined the others in the kitchen was Rivers taking care of Chris. She smiled at his compassion, "Did Nadia make the sandwich? She's really great about whipping stuff up in the kitchen." She looked around for Nadia, "Where is she?" Rhen assumed she was cleaning the blood off her.<br/><br/>Rhen pulled six shot glasses from the cabinet, grabbed the bottle of whiskey and poured everyone a victory shot. She wasn't sure if 'the new guy' drank or not but she needed one herself. Passing out the shots to everyone she left Nadia's on the edge to grab, then placed two in front of her seat next to Celeste. She downed the extra shot, held up the last towards the group and toasted. "To staying alive" she smiled, wagging her brows playfully before downing the shot and pouring another.