COVENLINE

Winter Weeps

When a vampire attack leaves paranormal investigator Gabriela Vespera newly undead, she and her two closest friends are drawn into the ancient family that has been waiting for her.CONTEMPORARY GOTHIC FANTASY · ADULT FICTION
ALMADA · LISBON · SINTRA, PORTUGALVAMPIRES · PARANORMAL INVESTIGATION · CHOSEN FAMILY · ANCESTRAL SECRETSBOOK ONE · FIRST DRAFT IN PROGRESS

THE STORY
JANUARY 2026 · ALMADA, PORTUGALGabriela Vespera, Kiril Novak and António have spent years investigating the supernatural together. Gabriela senses the spirits that linger around ordinary places; Kiril records everything and searches for rational explanations; António stays close enough to pull them out when an investigation becomes dangerous.When two strangers begin appearing around their cases, Gabriela’s fascination with the supernatural turns against her. An attack leaves her newly undead, overwhelmed by hunger and dependent on two human friends who love her but cannot understand what she has become. As their attempts to protect her begin feeling increasingly like containment, Gabriela receives an invitation from Serafim — an ancient vampire, the lord of Palácio do Limiar and an ancestor who has known of her existence for years.At Limiar, Gabriela is offered blood without violence, guidance without ownership and a place within a family she never knew existed. But accepting help means confronting what was done to her, what she now needs to survive and whether blood can determine who has the right to call her family.COVENLINE: WINTER WEEPS is a contemporary Portuguese gothic fantasy about hunger, inheritance, chosen family and learning to live after an irreversible transformation.VAMPIRES · ESTABLISHED FRIEND GROUP · RELUCTANT TRANSFORMATION · GOTHIC ESTATE · ANCESTRAL SECRETS · HUNGER WITHOUT SHAME

CARE
When does protecting someone become another way of controlling them?
NEED
Survival is not a moral failure, even when it requires something frightening.
BELONGING
Gabriela is offered a place in two families — one chosen, one inherited. Neither can decide for her.
CHANGE
Gabriela cannot return to who she was, but transformation does not have to mean losing herself.

Click on them!

DOM SERAFIM D’ALVOR E MOURAHE/HIM · LORD OF PALÁCIO DO LIMIAR
STATUS: AWAITING FAMILYAn ancient vampire and the distant ancestor of Gabriela’s human family, Serafim maintains an estate built around rules, consent and carefully documented systems of survival. He offers Gabriela guidance and sanctuary—but centuries of restraint cannot disguise how long he has wanted to meet her.ANCIENT · FORMAL · PATIENT · DISTURBINGLY PREPARED

ANTÓNIO COELHOHE/HIM · CONTRACTOR · DRIVER
STATUS: KNOWS MORE THAN HE SAYSAntónio is the trio’s practical centre: the driver, the lookout and usually the person physically removing Kiril from danger. He has believed Gabriela from the beginning, partly because the supernatural has never been as unfamiliar to him as he allows his friends to think.WATCHFUL · CAPABLE · PROTECTIVE · SUSPICIOUSLY STRONG

GABRIELA VESPERASHE/HER · HOTEL RECEPTIONIST · PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR
STATUS: RECENTLY UNDEADGabriela has always been able to sense the spirits lingering around ordinary places. Thoughtful, compassionate and accustomed to making herself useful, she finds it much harder to accept help when an attack transforms her into the kind of supernatural creature she once searched for.SENSITIVE · CREATIVE · SPIRIT-TOUCHED · VERY HUNGRY

KIRIL NOVAKHE/THEY · PHOTOGRAPHER · VIDEOGRAPHER
STATUS: STILL RECORDINGKiril handles the cameras, edits the footage and insists that every haunting has a rational explanation. Loud, stubborn and incapable of leaving a mystery alone, he is frightened by what Gabriela becomes—and even more frightened by the idea that his fear might make him abandon her.SCEPTICAL · LOUD · DEVOTED
BAD AT LETTING THINGS GO

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