She leans in to kiss back...

And a gargoyle crashes through the door, flying back.

Oblivion take it- She twists out of the way.

Lace curses and twists aside too, drawing her dagger and sword as the gargoyle slams into the far wall and begins getting to its feet.

Also, their hiding space is now rather revealed.

"Courtyard," she snaps, freezing the gargoyle to the wall. "Focus on the ones you can slice."

She doesn't even pause long enough to nod.

She sprints into the courtyard, cutting down a vampire who'd been too slow to turn to face them - throws his body at another - spins behind them, catching a blast aimed her way on her enemy's back - kills that one -

She keeps herself moving fast enough the vampires are having trouble hitting her amidst all the chaos, and none of the skeletons or gargoyles have locked onto her yet.

Elana shatters her gargoyle then moves to adding to the destruction in the courtyard. She focuses on the skeletons and gargoyles, things that are harder for Lace's weapons to deal with. But gargoyles are tough, designed to take a lot of punishment before they break. She's running out of magicka and all the thralls are dead-

She hits Lace with a lifedrain.

Lace takes it with barely a hitch in her step. (She glances at Elana, to confirm that's the source of the life drain - her body's wracked with pain, a significant portion of her senses given over to screaming - )

Lace is full to the brim with life and magicka, spilling over, her vital energies practically eager to leap into Elana's keeping.

Lace keeps fighting, whirling through the squishier opponents, watching Elana's back as she does and preferentially taking down any vampires threatening her.

Oh, this is good. This is better than the Lord, she can't feel Molag Bal's icy fingers crawling up her spine-

Elana radiates death, waves of fire and lightning and ice sweeping across the field molded by her will and fueled by Lace's willing sacrifice.

The last vampire dies before the last gargoyle. Lace tucks to the side of the courtyard, dropping to a kneel and - keeping an eye on the fight, of course, in case she needs to move, and on all the entrances and exits -

But mostly she feels.

And, now that she's not reflexively guarding herself - now that she doesn't need to keep on her feet - Elana's spell can siphon away even more of her energy. Not significantly, not enough to outweigh Lace's contributions in battle, but - noticeably.

She makes the final gargoyle explode from the inside out.

And that's the end of it. Nothing else seems to be coming for them right now.

Lace remains kneeling for the moment at least, trying to keep her breathing even through the waves of pain.

Elana tapers the drain down slowly, as she walks over to stand next to Lace.

Small whine and a deep breath.

She glances up at Elana, then braces and stands, steadying herself.

She gives her a hand up. "All right?"

Smile. "Yeah. A bit sore, but nothing that'll slow me down."

"Good. Not too- distracting, I hope?"

"Not at that level. I can fight through it just fine."

"Excellent."

Heeee. She has a good Elana.

"Onward, then?"

"Possibly. Valerica has a secret lab somewhere in this wing. That is where she'll be, and what we need to find at this point."

Serious nod. "Should I let you take point if we meet her?"

"That would be best. She'll use you to hurt me, if she can."

"I'll try not to let her do that, then."

She nods.

"We should look for anything that seems... out of place. Unusual."