unaffected by holy magic

"My mission never waits," I answer. I hurl the holy magic at him, and it hits him full in the chest.

The vampire is unmoved.

"Avacyn," he says. "The cellar. We have business we must attend to."

***

He steps toward me in disobedience. I pummel him with hallowed light, but again the spell does not harm him. He tilts his head. His eyes look almost concerned, but his leech's fangs flex, mocking me. I hear laughter. A sliver of doubt inserts itself into my mind—not that I may be defeated, but that I may have hesitated at the moment I released the spell. I may have prevented myself from striking him down. I do not know why this should be.

I hear the wings of the angels who perch in the rafters above me, and I can feel their starlight eyes on me. I steel myself in their light. As I raise my spear-tip to the vampire, it curves into a blade of justice.

The vampire takes another step, so that his chest rests against the spearhead. "Avacyn," he says with his bloody mouth. "You cannot harm me." He reaches out to me. "And there is a reason."

The next words he says leave a mark on me. They are just sounds, just vibrations in air. But I feel them like a carver's knife. Like an inquisitor's brand.

"I am your creator," he says.

***

I AM AVACYN