Chapter One: Do You Wanna Piece of Me

"Elena! Elena, over here! Elena! Right here, Elena!"

Photographers screamed at the rosy lipped beauty. Camera lights flashed brightly and reflected off of her silver-sequined mini dress.

Elena Gilbert was a star. She was the epitome of gorgeous, and she wasn't afraid if everyone knew it. She had true star quality; not a person in the world wasn't enchanted by her sultry voice and hooky songs. She was invited to nearly every party, opening, and event across the globe, and before she left L.A for her world tour, she was cutting the red ribbon at the grand opening for Sony Music's new record label. Her second album, "Opps, Now You Think I'm In Love," had just been released, and it had already sold an astounding 2 million copies in it's debut week! She had beaten out Taylor Swift as the best selling artist, bought herself a brand new Mercedes Benz, and now, Elena was preparing to board the tour bus that would showcase her talents all across the globe.

"Elena, we have to leave now if we're going to make it to Arizona on time for tomorrow night's show," Alaric Saltzman, her manager, stated as he appeared from behind and grabbed her forearm gently, ushering her away from the cheering crowd. They could hear the president of SONY starting up a speech about how "rewarding" it was to have such a fantastic building in such a fantastic city. Elena kicked off her heels as she followed her manager's lead toward the parking lot. Alaric stopped midway into the lot and climbed hastily into a midnight black limo, leaving the door open for Elena as she confusedly climbed in behind.

"I thought the bus would be here? Why are we taking the limo?" Elena asked her manager as she buckled her seatbelt. She had thought that she was going to cut the ribbon, and then get straight onto her bus to start her second world tour. Changing plans so abruptly only caused complications.

"We.. had some concerns about how the evening would play out and John and I thought it would be best if you didn't board the bus directly off of the red carpet," Alaric said flippantly.

"Oh." Elena knew what the concerns were. Alaric and John, her agent, were afraid of fans sneaking onto the bus. That had been happening a lot lately. Crazed fans were everywhere, it seemed.

Everyone wanted a piece of Elena's life. Even if it was as simple as stealing toilet paper from her tour bus or taking pictures of her through windows on their cell phones.

Before they were caught and and fined, or arrested, of course. Whichever Stefan decided they deserved.

Elena loved her life, but between her demanding label, management team and security department, she was just suffocated. She had a fake life. She never go to do what she wanted, only what other people told her to do. At 17, she was too young to be spending 8 hours daily in the dance studio, only to go straight to recording sessions and then take care of the interviews, photo-shoots and other various obligations before being shuffled off to a hotel room to prepare for the next day's tasks. Elena had her whole life already decided for her, all because she chose to pursue what she loved.

As the limo pulled up in large parking lot of a local Walmart, Elena peered out the window in excitement. Elena's team had apparently conversed with Walmart and ensured a boarding site, because the lot was clear of any and all civilization. There were only a couple of cars surrounding the posh, interiorly glamourous double decker bus that Elena would soon begin the next six month's of her life on. She knew to whom every familiar car belonged, and when her eyes fell upon the one of her aunt's, her insides leaped with joy.

Elena's Aunt Jenna was waiting for her by her bus, bright and eyed and excited and always to be with her niece. That's how Jenna had always been, regardless of Elena's fame or fortune.

The long, noir limo came to a stop and Elena slid out as her aunt enveloped her into a passionate hug. The two relatives hadn't seen each other for months, and when Elena had called Jenna and told her she wanted her to come with her on tour, Jenna had been more than happy to oblige. Things could get lonely while on tour, and it was always wonderful for her to have someone with her who was truly close to her heart.

"Jenna! I'm so glad you're coming!" Elena greeted her aunt.

"I'm happy too!" Jenna said giddily. She pulled back from the hug and grasped Elena's shoulders as she looked her deep in the eyes. "Your mother would've loved to do this; Elena, I know she's proud of you," Jenna said lovingly and beamed at her neice.

Elena's mother and father had died in a car accident just after Elena had signed her record deal, and as much as Elena had cried and pitied herself, she knew how excited her parents had been for her, and they would have wanted her to continue. They had worked so hard and sacrificed so much so that she could sing, and she didn't want to throw it all away because of her own inner weakness. So she danced. And she practiced. And she lived her life for other people so that she could honor them, even in their death. That had been almost three years ago, but the memory of their tragic end always continued to haunt her, no matter what she did.

A voice from behind her broke her of her thoughts.

"Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but there's been a change of plans with your schedule. You and your aunt, along with your bus's driver will be in your usual bus, but your dancers, band, hair and makeup team, and the rest of us will not be coming with you." Elena turned around to look at the speaker, Alaric, and gasped.

"What? You're not following me in your buses? I can't preform without a band and my dancers, and how am I supposed to get anything organized without all of you there..."

"Elena, don't be foolish." Alaric cut her off, lifting a palm up in the air to stop her ranting. He was wearing tinted sunglasses, a black suit, and was clutching a walkie-talkie in a very business-man-meets-secret-agent type manner.

"Of course we'll all be there," he rolled his eyes, "but we won't be following directly behind you."

Elena blinked a few times and considered the idea that she might be going deaf. Why would her team 'not follow directly behind her?' Where were the group of people that relished in following her and "keeping her safe?" She couldn't possibly preform if they managed to somehow get split up and arrive in different towns all the time.

"What?" the confused popstar asked again. She knew she sounded daft, but she could hardly believe her ears, never the less censor herself for intelligence.

Alaric sighed. Apparently he wished that she would censor herself for intelligence.

"I'm going to be honest with you. I don't mean to cause a scare, we are going to be sending a couple cars of security out behind you while you travel, so you don't have to worry about that. However, we need to make sure that you are safe, and many people are aware that five pristine white buses in a row spells Elena Gilbert's 'Opps Now You Think I'm In Love' tour, and with the public already aware of your performance dates and times, it's not wise to draw unnecessary attention to ourselves," he lectured, like she was an incompetent five year old. "Especially," he added, "because of the unfamiliar streets and highways. But, don't fret, there's nothing to worry yourself about. Just don't panic when you don't see a line of buses behind yours in the rear-view mirror. Now, that's all, so get on your bus, relax, and practice for tomorrow."

Elena managed to nod and hide her fury at being dismissed as Alaric half-hugged her awkwardly and pulled out his cell phone before dialing a call and walking away.

"Well. That's a lot of information to learn the day before you kick off your USA leg of the tour," Jenna laughed, trying to lighten the mood, and failing.

"Yeah," Elena sighed, "I'm sort of used to it by now. They think the paparazzi are going to get me while I'm sleeping or something." She scoffed disbelievingly. "I'm so overprotected."

"Elena, Elena, this is all going to get some taking use to, but you'll be okay. Everything happens in your best interest. Besides, how can you even mind? Your manager is so cute!" Jenna squealed, dropping her mature facade momentarily and Elena flashed her a smile.

"Ahh, yes, the classic aunt-falls-for-the-pop star's-head-of-management thing every teen experiences." Elena remarked coyly. The two climbed onto the bus and Elena gave her a quick tour of the expensive vehicle they would be living on for the time being.

Jenna seemed genuinely content with spending time with her regardless of what was done, but Elena had a feeling that her aunt needed some time to settle into the change of scenery and get used to her new life, so Elena grabbed two bottles of water from the kitchen and spun around towards the staircase.

Handing Jenna one politely, Elena gave a quick departing speech. "I'm really kind of tired Jenna; I'm going to kind of chill out and read for awhile, but let me know if you need anything... or if the phone rings!" Elena smiled as she headed to the bus's second floor, where her bedroom was. Jenna's was on the bottom floor, and she was no doubt going to have fun with the water bed, upon her discovery of the liquid filled mattress, of course. Elena smiled to herself. Her Aunt could be such a child sometimes. Then again, she guessed that that's what makes her such a great person. Her aunt held onto her childhood.

Elena would have no problem forgetting hers.

She had no idea she had even fallen asleep until she was chucked violently off of her delectably soft 1500 thread count egyptian cotton sheets and landed on the ceiling with a thump.

Wait...

The ceiling?

Yes, the ceiling!

It was all happening in slow motion. She could see it all so clearly. First, the lace trimmed lamp rolled off of her night stand and slapped against her arm. Seconds later followed her armoire, as it slammed into her stomach and rested its weight there maliciously. Her bed was next, falling on top of her armoire, all of them adding ridiculous pressure atop her petite figure and and crushing her harshly as her mind fell into an oblivion of her surroundings. One by one, she watched as objects in the room she had come to know so well fall on top of her cruelly. She couldn't see. She couldn't think. The pain was intensified beyond belief.

She was barely holding on.

That's when she heard the screams. Men screaming. Pounding noises of all kinds. Her head was beaten dangerously, she could feel the blood pour out and drip stickily through her hair and across her face.

She didn't know how many gashes she had. She didn't know how deep they sliced through. She couldn't check, but she knew. It was all coming to an end.

Pain. Noises. Confusion.

She heard someone approach her. She couldn't make out the person's facial features or figure out who it was, but she somehow knew that she wasn't safe. After spending the last three years of her life being protected and told that everything was done for her safety, she had finally been exposed to danger. She felt the person's arms wrap around her and lift, releasing her from her heavy prison. Large sized muscles flexed against her delicate arm and she knew it was a man carrying her. She was vaguely aware of her head as it lolled back lifelessly. She felt as though needles were pricking her everywhere, sticking themselves into every pore in her body, and it became harder and harder to give her lungs air. The man was moving. She was moving. He was carrying her somewhere.

She gathered the last of her air to scream, but no sound came out. Instead, her heart grew tired of pumping blood through her crushed veins, damaged arteries, and pummeled skin.

Elena Gilbert's eyelashes fluttered silently closed and she finally found her peace, away from the pain.

A/N: She's not dead! Don't worry, you'll see what happens.

I wrote a new story! :)

There are some Britney Spears references in here, hehe:)

It's AU, but I tried to keep it as realistic as I could to the original Vampire Diaries plot, so I kept all of the same characters and just altered their identities a bit. I hope everything isn't too confusing, but if you have a question, just ask! There's going to be a pretty thick plot in this story, just how I like 'em, so let me know if it gets to confusing, because it messes everything up if no one can understand it!

I'm still going to write 'Taken,' but I really wanted to try something AU out.

Tell me if this sucks, though! I like honesty! :)))

~KaterinaPetrova

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE VAMPIRE DIARIES