Origin
Born in Chicago, Vlad was abandoned by his mother, due to being deformed, shortly after his birth. Left in the garbage, he was later found by a Czechoslovakian butcher that had no family. His home was the basement of the butcher shop, kept hidden away. He learned about the outside world from things left in the basement, comic books, and magazines. He learned what little broken English he spoke from the butcher. When the butcher could he would try to educate Vlad with comic books (his favorite being Chippy Chipmunk). The disease made his life full of pain, so the butcher made him work out to make his muscles stronger. The toughened muscles straightened his twisted young bones. He showed him how to cut meat, improving his skills with blades and cutting. One day, the butcher died in his sleep and Vlad was left alone. He spent a lot of time looking out the window. He wanted to see the world, but was very afraid of it, and afraid the world outside the glass would fear him. Soon, the food was gone and he had to find his own. He covered himself to hide his ugliness, but also to protect himself for the world without a ceiling, and its thick, dirty air. He ate only what he could find, hunting the city at night. He saw this new world from its dark alleys, and trash bins. Though he hid in the shadows some people did notice him. He became known as the Meat Man, a ghost of the city. This ghost was often the first to be blamed for strange happenings, from broken windows to broken bodies. This is how he came to meet Cassie Hack. She thought he was the slasher that had killed many teens, however, he was not. Cassie felt bad for attacking him and she offered him the chance to see the world, to get away from his basement, and perhaps offered herself someone to help control her anger.
Powers and Abilities
Vlad was trained in the use of his knives by his surrogate father, the Butcher, and as a result is extremely skilled with them. He is also a skilled hand-to-hand combatant. His strength and durability are notably superior to any human’s, and he is capable of overpowering powerful, undead slashers such as Father Wrath and Doctor Gross. On one occasion, he was shoved into a tub of water with a powerful electric current running through it, and emerged without receiving any apparent damage.