Jasmine

Jasmine was a once higher being who manipulated herself into human form, using Cordelia and Connor as her parents. A seemingly beautiful woman, Jasmine gave those who came in contact with her a feeling of complete peace and serenity. She had the ability to control the minds and hearts of her ‘subjects’. In order to sustain herself she had to feed on the people who worshipped her, by devouring them whole. Whilst devouring people she gave off a vibrant green light, and extended tentacles to engulf her victims, absorbing them within her own flesh. With each human she consumed, her body becomes stronger and less susceptible to harm.
When Fred was touched with Jasmine’s blood, and saw her in her true form - a maggot-ridden manifestation. Fred managed to infect her friends with Jasmine’s blood so they could see the truth and the group set about stopping Jasmine from taking over the minds of the world’s population. Jasmine’s goal was end to war, disease, and poverty in the world but the price was too high for Angel Investigations - the loss of personal choice by the human race.
They discovered that her true name was her weakness. Angel found and defeated the Keeper of the Name, who spoke the name out loud, causing Jasmine’s subjects to see her in her true form, thus ending world peace. Jasmine was killed by Connor.

Hey, it’s like a metaphor

The flower jasmine has been compared to vampires twice in the Buffyverse. In I Only Have Eyes For You:

Drusilla: “Wow! Look. Jasmine.”
Angelus: “Night blooming.”
Drusilla: “Like us.”

And then in Angel’s The Trial, Darla says of the jasmine in the courtyard at the Hyperion Hotel, “Hmm, jasmine. It blooms at night. I remember what that was like.” Season four’s entity Jasmine was named after the same plant looked at by Darla.

REM

The title of the season four Angel episode Shiny Happy People is a reference to one of the hits from REM’s album Out of Time. The lyrics include the line, “Everyone around love them, love them” which echoes Jasmine’s message of peace.