Part 14

Willow and Graham made their way into the conference room at Wolfram and Hart where they were to meet with Lilah.  She was to provide more information on Jasmine for them before they proceeded with the operation.

"Welcome, have a seat." Lilah pointed to some empty chairs before pushing a button to lower a screen. "I thought it would be best for you to see your target in action. We've compiled some video for you to watch."

At Lilah's nod the lights dimmed and the video began. The first shot was a deserted alley at night. "We were in the area for another project when we noticed this…"

A flash of white light was accompanied by whirling colors that slowly enlarged to show a rift. It reminded Willow of the portal that Dawn's blood opened in Sunnydale. She leaned forward her face a mask of indifference but inside her heart was racing. Was Jasmine from the same realm as Glory?

A shadowed figure stepped out of the portal. "This is the entity that calls herself Jasmine." Lilah continued.

Willow watched the figure slowly walk into the light. She appeared to be a tall, beautiful African-American. "I take it that's not her true form." She asked as she thought of Glory/Ben.

Lilah just smiled, "You're correct." The scene melded into a video feed of a talk show.

The woman host was speaking into the camera and the excitement on her face was palpable. "We have with us today a very special surprise guest. We were lucky enough to get Jasmine."

"Good morning, Los Angeles.  Thank you for inviting me. This is a special day."

"We want to know everything about you. Start at the beginning."


"Trish, in the beginning, before the time of man, great beings walked the Earth. Untold power emanated from all quarters—the seeds of what would come to be known as good and evil. Yet there was a balance. But the shadow stretched..."

"Is she saying she's a Goddess?" Willow looked incredulously at Lilah. "And people are buying this?"

"Oh, not only that but the Catholic Church in Los Angeles decided to take down the 'false idols' and dedicated their churches to Jasmine." Lilah smirked.

"Mass hypnosis or subliminal messages?" Graham asked as he watched the scene change from a video feed of the show to people in the streets and buildings standing transfixed in front of television sets.

"Not that we could tell. We thought maybe it was some kind of power that Jasmine had but there were other humans and demons alike that aren't joining the masses."

Willow watched the video show a small room where a dozen or so 'followers' of Jasmine were assembled in various stages of undress.

Jasmine was speaking to those gathered there, "Thank you all for coming. There's a long road before us, and there's still much to do, but we've made a wonderful start, thanks to all of you. Your devotion and sacrifice have made a difference."

"We caught a lucky break like her entrance into our reality. We had a subject under surveillance when their path crossed Jasmine's. Watch."

As Jasmine approached her 'followers' a bright yellow-green light filled the room. The light began to shrink until it revealed a creature at the center. When the face turned toward the camera it revealed maggots eating the flesh on its left side and one of the eye sockets appeared swollen and drifting down to one side.  Willow's eyes panned down the creature's body and saw a tentacle or two reaching out for those gathered. Soon the sound of rearranging flesh could be heard in the room and the light disappeared completely, revealing a beautiful Jasmine at the center.

"So she reveals her true self as she feeds." Willow mumbled as she watched Jasmine collect herself before leaving the room.

The video slowly faded to black as Jasmine began her press conference.

"Wait." Willow exclaimed. "Can you turn it back on and rewind to when Jasmine enters the conference?"

Lilah smiled knowing who it was that Willow saw. She hadn't pointed it out wanting to see if Willow would pick the person out in the crowd. It was one of the reasons Wolfram and Hart began to get interested in Jasmine. Well, that and the fact that the First wanted them to keep an eye on her.

Graham looked over at Willow, "What'd you see?"

As the video revealed the room, Willow looked at one of the darkened corners in the room. "There to the left. It looks like Angel."

Lilah stopped the tape and zoomed it to show the corner that Willow had indicated. It was grainy and blurry but obviously Angel. "Do you know how many times I've watched this video and never noticed that?" Lilah sounded surprised and had no regret lying to them. "It would explain this report that I got this morning."

Lilah reached into her briefcase and retrieved two copies of the file, handing one to each of them. She had altered the date to show yesterday's date on it. "According to this, Angel and his merry band of do-gooders seem to suspect something is different about Jasmine. They were spotted being attacked by a group of her followers at a gas station on the edge of Los Angeles. We're still piecing together what happened."

A slight smile quirked Graham's lips as he turned to Willow, "Huh. Angel might think we've decided to reform when we take out Jasmine. He'll probably think his talk to you at the airport started you on the path of redemption."

Willow smiled over at Graham, "Maybe I can play that card. Mess with his mind while we're here. Oooh, I've got an idea. I'll go see Angel, get all teary eyed and say how I've been so lost since leaving Sunnydale and that I want to be the old Willow again. Even volunteer to help him in whatever he's doing about Jasmine. Then after we take her out, thank him for his help with the hit."

"Impressive and it'll probably work. Angel has a blind spot when it comes to redemption. Just look at his kid."

Willow thanked all her hours of training on keeping a mask in place as the words that Lilah spoke sunk in. Praying her voice wouldn't betray her, "His kid?"

Lilah's eyes widened and then she began to laugh. "Oh that's rich. He never told his Sunnydale friends that he became a father."

"How could a vampire become a father? I've never heard of that and I even read Giles' forbidden text and THAT wasn't mentioned. Is Cordelia the mother?" God this would kill Buffy.

"You're right it's never happened before and probably never will again. It seems there was a prophecy about two vampires having a human child. It seems he and Darla did the nasty and son Conner was the result."

"Darla?!? Last I heard she was dead. Well, she's always been dead but final dead. Angel turned her to dust in Sunnydale."

"Funny thing that. We brought her back as a way to destroy Angel."

Graham let out a bark of laughter. "So Wolfram and Hart actually set in motion the events that brought about the prophecy."

"And don't think heads didn't roll about that one. But on the bright side Conner hates his father and sent him to the bottom of the ocean in a glass covered coffin."

Graham whistled in appreciation. "Damn, that's impressive. Angel'd slowly waste away on the bottom of the ocean. It would be very slow and very torturous. Man, his kid must REALLY hate him. How'd he get rescued, kid have a change of heart?"

"No, one of Angel associates finally found him and brought him up. And yet he still thinks Conner feels guilty about it and the guilt is its own punishment. He's betting Conner will come around." Lilah smirked, "Not that Conner has shown ANY signs of guilt just regret about getting caught."

"Well, that should make my plan using Angel easier." Willow turned to Graham, "So, do you want to do good cop/bad cop where we're up against each other with Jasmine. You seeming to protect and me destroying OR do you want to jump on the redemption bandwagon with me?"

"Oh I wouldn't miss this. How bout we go to Angel with Wolfram and Hart's nefarious plans on helping Jasmine satellite feed her presence to the masses? It's shocking that Lilah and her partners are willing to do anything to bring about worldwide mind control. And did you know that Jasmine was a client of Wolfram and Hart?" Graham turned to Lilah, "Do you think we could get a copy of the tape?"

"Sure, I'll just have our multi-media department splice together the scenes for you. It should be available in a couple of hours."

"Perfect, I'll say the portal that Jasmine used reminded me too much of Glory and was the catalyst of turning to Angel. He knows that I swore I'd never let another Glory happen." Willow prayed that Angel would forgive her for what she was about to do. She had noticed the small inconsistencies in the report that Lilah had given her. Willow wanted to keep Angel within sight and this seemed like a good idea. Obviously Lilah and her partners were planning something with Angel and the others and Willow hoped to be there to soften the blow even though it wouldn't look like it.

Lilah watched as Hunter and Red Death left before turning to Steve. "Plans in place for Angel?"

"Just finished finalizing them this morning."

"Good." She handed him a manila envelope, "Add this as a contingency plan." It's not that she doubted Red Death and Hunter but working for Wolfram and Hart taught you to always expect the double cross for your own gain. Hell, it was how she had made senior partner and she wanted to be prepared.