Samael was disgruntled as he was leaving Kirkwall that morning, his usual companions have ditched him today and he had no other choice than to do this job alone. Well, he had his mabari puppy with him, but that wasn't very reassuring, since the puppy was only half-trained, wild and as far as Samael could tell, it was very stubborn and defiant. So the puppy was not the best choice for a companion, definitely not the safe one. As he reached the outskirts of Kirkwall, a sudden movement behind him made him jump and turn around, his daggers in ready position.

"By the Stone, Hawke, you're jumpy today. You didn't think I'll let you go on your own to deal with some freak caved up in the woods, did you?" Varric leaned nonchalantly towards the tree, Bianca was straddled across his shoulder.

"You said you had dealings with the Merchant Guild today, dwarf. And besides that, I can handle myself pretty well, so feel free to go frolicking through this lovely forest. I have mother to feed and liquor to buy and whores to pay. What good is one dwarf to me anyway?…" Samael's stance relaxed a bit as he lowered his gorgeous weapons. Varric laughed at Hawke's catty comment and shook his head. The puppy was trying to catch a shiny butterfly and tripped over its own paws.

"I see you have deadly guardian with you. And I'm not here alone." With that comment Hawke jerked his body and turned around and his eyes narrowed as Merrill and Fenris made their appearances.

"Oh Varric, you shouldn't have. Fresh air, radiant sun and fluffy clouds upon my head and a witch to kill. What a lovely day." Hawke stiffened and tightened the grip of his daggers again, his eyes concentrating on her slender figure, waiting for her to move her staff, to give him the reason to get rid of her. He was totally blindsided by that odd feeling in his stomach he experienced every time he saw her.

"I knew I liked you." There was something very similar to a seductive smile on the elf warrior's face when he spoke. Hawke relaxed and started laughing which startled an already very confused Merrill. Varric was not so amused with their ruthless joy, but kept his mouth shut for once.

"So, what's the situation, oh mighty leader of our motley little group?" Varric interrupted their giggles.

"The situation is that I'm gonna kill one obnoxious chatty dwarf if he won't shut up… and one elf as well. Oh I didn't mean you, pretty one" Hawke added, as Fenris turned his face to him with a pouty expression. Varric sighed as they continued down the way to the cave.

Samael kept a rapid pace, and a broody expression on his face. The puppy was sticking with the witch, bouncing around her. She even touched his fur shyly, and it licked her hand in return. It really surprised him, he would like to shoo the dog away from her, but he didn't wish to interact with her or to even be seen looking at her. The city guards outside of the cave pissed him off for making him do their dirty job. He shouldn't be surprised by now that in this miserable city nobody seemed able to untie his boot laces without asking Samael for help.

They continued exploring the stony chambers in silence, looking for the refugee. They haven't encountered anything interesting so far, just a few walking corpses and one small group of smugglers. He made sure he had his puppy in sight all the time and he was pleased when the puppy rather playfully bit one corpse in half. He patted its head lightly in approval when the puppy stood beside him again. Samael looked at Merrill briefly, wondering about her puzzled expression. Nobody would guess she was actually thinking about his gentle, however brief, gesture towards the dog.

As they entered the biggest chamber, they felt immediately the temperature change. The room shifted. In one breathless second they were engirdled by giant spiders.

"Well, aren't you ugly." Samael hissed at the nearest one. Behind them an arcane horror had risen slowly out of nowhere. Samael immediately noticed two revenants standing ominously across the chamber surrounded by a dozen shaking corpses.

"Andraste's tits, I'm too good looking to die so young" Varric mumbled, Bianca already in his hands. Fenris had unsheathed his fine greatsword, a devious grin twisting his face. Merrill's prepared staff was sparkling with electricity, her stance firm, but he saw her frightened eyes staring at the tall demon. He felt the urge to touch her, calm her down. He mentally slapped himself.

"Fenris! I need you to taunt that buffoon in the robes and those revenants. Varric! Find yourself the best spot and cover him." He paused and inhaled sharply.

"Witch. Take care of the spiders. Try not to hit me." Oh he would rather die than to look at her hurt expression when he wasn't able to address her with her name.

They scattered, following his orders. Samael narrowed his eyes when he tried to sneak behind the arcane horror, exploiting its weak spots then stabbing in quick precise staccato. The horror howled and turned its hooded head towards him, raising its hands. Fenris took the chance and cut its head off with one fluid and splendid swing. He grinned at Hawke, his skin glowing with bloodlust.

Varric took down one revenant in the meantime and most of the corpses as well. Fenris scythed mercilessly through the other revenant. Samael turned around and froze as Merrill's melodic voice vibrated in the chamber.

"Vir'a Nath'Aliiiiiiin!" She was glowing with venomous green light while she was ensnaring hideous spiders surrounding her. He was stricken down by her beauty and might. Maker, where did all that power come from? The spiders were fizzling with pain, dying around her, their legs twitching faintly in the air. She was mesmerizing in her anger channeled towards the beasts. Their eyes locked for one agonizing second. Her eyes widened as she screamed at him.

"Hawke! Look out!" He came around, shaking his head, turning. Too late, too slow. The corpse had its filthy dagger only a few inches away. Hawke shifted, trying to dodge the hit, but he was knocked down by familiar silver fur. Puppy attacked the corpse, shredding it madly into twitching pieces of bones and rotting flesh.

The sudden silence in the chamber was ringing in Samael's ears. Puppy sauntered by his side nonchalantly, cocking its head, tongue lolling out. Merrill landed next to him, checking his body anxiously for the wounds. He inhaled sharply as she uncovered his wounded arm. Not a word between them. She placed her hand without hesitation on the wound, his blood coating her fingertips. He shivered under her touch and pushed her roughly away, scared by his quickened heartbeat. Merrill frowned and moved even closer to him then before. She locked her eyes with his and slowly placed her hand onto his thigh. Samael shivered again but to his own surprise he let her hand to linger there. She was so close, her lips trembling, her cheeks flushed. Her hand began to ascend, caressing him, copying his leg, his firm belly, his moving chest. She reached his wound again and he felt the pain was fading and the wound stopped bleeding.

Varric and Fenris rushed to them, interrupting his whirling thoughts. He jerked his arm out of her reach and abruptly stood up. Not looking at her Samael sheathed his daggers.

"We should move on." The quest didn't concern him anymore, he even let Fenris to deal with the unstable mage they found.

When he was lying in his bed in the dark that night the last image in his mind before he drifted away was tiny pale hand placed on his dark rough skin.