Dean is asleep when Eve appears at the edge of their campsite.
"You can't be here," Castiel says, thinking that he's seeing things again.
The firelight plays across her pale skin, makes her dark eyes glow like coals. "I am a Mother of creation. Did you think that I could truly be killed?"
"Death comes for us all," he returns, warily.
There's a proud tilt to her chin when she answers. "Yes, and he will come to me in person when he does. Not through a mere human."
Castiel's eyes flit towards Dean.
"Oh, he won't wake until I've gone," she mentions casually.
Castiel tenses. His gaze tracks Eve as she paces along the border of the campsite, not passing through the wards that he'd drawn on nearby trees. He takes a few slow, deliberate steps to stand between her and Dean.
"Why are you here?" he asks, his voice approaching a growl.
She crosses the wards. Castiel shifts to a defensive stance.
"Not to kill you," she says with a patronizing smile, still walking towards him.
He doesn't move, doesn't blink. They're standing face-to-face.
"You can keep tearing through the souls of my children," she says, and there's something angry and vindictive under her calm exterior. "But after what you did to us, we will never let you go. You can battle through this realm for a hundred years, a thousand years, and we will never let you go."
Castiel squares his shoulders and stares her down. "I will not let Dean Winchester be trapped here."
"Oh, he doesn't matter," she says with a small laugh. "You can take him right up to the gate yourself." Eve steps even closer, her voice turning soft and gentle. "You can watch him cross over. Catch a glimpse of home." She whispers, "But you will be ours forever."
Eve turns from him, and walks away. Castiel keeps his eyes fixed on her as she goes, and doesn't start trembling until she's out of sight.