Monsters Under the Bed

As children, we all fear the invisible, mysterious, unpredictable monsters that might be lurking under our beds or in dark corners of our small worlds. We need parents to come in and vanquish them with warm milk or reassurances.

As adults, we can put names to some of those midnight terrors—fear of fire, disease, terrorists, or any other uncontrollable, unspeakable horror that we realize can strike without warning. We have no one to come in and chase those terrors away.

In urban fantasy, our pro...