Destruction of the Circle of the Black Thorn

The Destruction of the Circle of the Black Thorn is an attack on the secret Circle of the Black Thorn and Marcus Hamilton by Team Angel.

Background
After a vision from Cordelia points him to the Circle of the Black Thorn, Angel uses Fred's death and a fake turn to evil to join the Circle and learn who its members are. Angel succesfully infiltrates the Circle thanks to his actions and learns that the members consist of Archduke Sebassis, SenatorHelen Brucker, Ed of the Fell Brethern who acts as their representative, the leader of the Sahvrin Clan of demons, Izzerial the Devil, three human members and Cyvus Vail. After Angel has his friends spend the day however they want, he sends his team (including Lindsey and Illyria) after the members of the Circle.

Spike and the Fell Brethern
Angel sends Spike alone after the Fell Brethern with the orders to "return the baby to its mother and dismember the foster family" which Spike happily accepts. Spike rescues the infant after infiltrating the Brethern and seemingly slaughters them with ease before returning the baby to its mother and heading off to meet up with the others.

Illyria and Izzerial
As Izzerial and the three human members of the Circle leave a resturant, Illyria attacks them in their car. What she does isn't shown, but she apparently slaughters them messily and leaves behind only a bloodstained and destroyed car.

Gunn and Senator Brucker
Angel sends Gunn after Senator Brucker whom Gunn has a deep hatred for and also so Gunn can kill her vampire minions as he loves killing vampires. Gunn attacks Brucker and her minions in her campain office and kills Brucker by throwing an axe into her head, but is surronded by her vampire minions. Gunn apparently prevails in the fight, but is left seriously wounded.

Wesley and Cyvus Vail
Wesley attacks Cyvus Vail, getting into his manision by pretending to want to lead a coup against Angel. Wesley tries to kill Vail with magical fireballs, but while he is initally succesful at blasting Vail as he catches him by surprise, Vail proves too powerful for him and defeats him. Wesley tries to stab Vail instead, but fails and Vail stabs Wesley, mortally wounding him. Wesley manages to knock Vail out for a few minutes by detonating another fireball, but is too late to save himself. Illyria shows up having grown concerned about him, but is unable to help him. Illyria takes on the form of Fred to give comfort to Wesley as he dies in the form of the woman Wesley loves. Wesley dies and Illyria is left enraged. Vail recovers and underestimates Illyria as she's still in the form of Fred and tells her to take her "best shot." An enraged Illyria turns back into herself and punches Vail so hard in the head that his head shatters, killing Vail and avenging Wesley.

Lorne and Lindey versus the Sahvrin Clan
On Angel's orders, Lorne and Lindsey work together to slaughter the Sahvrins. Lindsey proves to be an expert swordsman and easily kills them with Lorne apparently adding in a high note to disable the demons to help Lindsey. Afterwards, Lorne carries out his true orders and kills Lindsey with a gun on Angel's orders as Angel knew Lindsey would never change. After killing Lindsey, a disgusted Lorne left the Sahvrin bar and Team Angel.

Assasination of Archduke Sebassis
Angel told everyone including Harmony that he was going after Sebassis as Sebassis was the most powerful of the Circle, but this was false information in order to get Hamilton alone with him. In truth, Angel used a ring containing poison to poison the slave Sebassis drank the blood of during the last Circle meeting, poisioning Sebassis later on. Sebassis realized too late that his drink was poisoned and by that time his slave was dead and Sebassis soon followed, dying of the poisoned blood.

Angel versus Hamilton
Having received word of Angel's betrayal and plans to go after Sebassis from Harmony, Hamilton confronts Angel in a fight at Wolfram and Hart. Angel admits to already killing Sebassis and luring Hamilton into a trap so they could fight one on one. Unfortunatly, Hamilton proves too strong and too powerful for Angel to even hurt and beats him down. As Hamilton gets ready to stake Angel, Connor joins the fight and knocks Hamilton out for a moment, having realized somethig was wrong due to Angel's earlier visit with him. Angel and Connor fight Hamilton together, but even their combined strength is no match for Hamilton's and Connor is knocked out. Hamilton ends up bragging that the source of his power is in his blood and Angel takes advantage of that, drinking from Hamilton for a moment. Hamilton throws him off quickly, but that small drink causes Angel to gain Hamilton's level of strength and the two are more evenly matched. Finally Angel beats Hamilton down and punches him so hard in the head, his neck breaks, killing Hamilton.

Aftermath
Angered by the destruction of the Circle and the death of Hamilton, the Senior Partners destroy the Wolfram and Hart building and send an army after the surviving members of Team Angel. Eve apparently dies in the collapse of Wolfram and Hart, staying behind as she has nowhere else to go and Angel sends Connor home. These events end up leading to the Fall of Los Angeles.