His would-be attacker was a woman. Female Guardians were very rare, and he recalled the last he faced with a mixture of respect and anger. Xander almost smiled, entertained by her thoughts. She was trying to determine the best way to attack and debating the validity of her boss's assertion that the human-made weapons she carried were useless against Xander.
Gerry stayed outside his mindreading range up the beach, his movement stilled as he watched. Xander made it clear who taught lessons to the Guardians who failed to respect the boundaries.
Xander turned his back to the approaching Guardian to give her a better target then addressed her.
"You have a choice," he said in a low growl. "You can challenge me and pay the consequences."
She froze.
"Or back off and go home intact."
Most Guardians freaked out when he spoke to them. This one was no different. Her first strike might as well have been in slow motion; no one moved like he did with brute strength that flattened her after a particularly harsh block.
Her breath knocked out of her, the Guardian lay still on her back. Xander crouched over her body, one knee in the center of her chest to keep her in place. His eyes scoured her youthful features. She was in her mid-twenties with dark hair and eyes. The effect he had on human women was dulled on female Guardians, but she sensed his strange draw nonetheless and stared at him.
"That is why you follow my directions," Gerry said from nearby. The tall, blond Guardian built like a college quarterback was frowning. "You get a warning from me, but Xander gets to deal with you how he wants."
The woman's eyes widened. "I don't want to be a vamp!"
"I won't turn you. Just bleed you dry," Xander assured her.
She squirmed, eyes flying to Gerry.
"Gentle, Xander," Gerry reminded him.
Xander reached down in response and gripped the Guardian by her neck. He took her with him as he stood. Gerry was tense and worried, as he had been since Xander decapitated the one Guardian who tried to attack Ingrid, thinking she was a vamp, too.
"Second warning. Don't fuck with me," Xander said, gazing down at the Guardian in his grip. "Got it?" As he spoke, his incisors grew.
She swallowed hard without responding. He held her by the back of her neck, high enough off the ground that her tiptoes barely touched the sand, and forced her head back, until the soft skin of her neck was exposed. His eyes went to the visible pulse. Even without accessing her mind, he could see she was panicking.